Self-Government in the North American Colonies

 

The North American colonies developed experience in and expectations of self-government to a great extent between the years of 1607 and 1763, which is evidenced in their political, religious, economic, and social lifestyles. 

Many of the colonies developed government systems that differed from those of Britain, in both structure and political affinity. The Puritan church developed a political system that gave voting rights to all freemen who belonged to the Congregational Church, about two-fifths of adult males. However, the governments of the towns themselves were more liberal, allowing those adult males who were not part of the Congregational Church to vote, also, changing how the government worked once again. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, there was a General Court and a Governor, whose job it was to enforce God’s laws. Also, in 1639, Connecticut formed their own Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which, though unneeded under British ownership of the colonies, demonstrated the beginnings of self-government in the colonies. The New England Confederation, which was founded in 1643 by the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut as an experiment in defense and colonial unity. As all of the colonies were under British control at this time, the unity of these four colonies showed that they were starting to want more protection and comradeship than just England, and that they wanted control of their own existence and livelihood. 

The religiousness of the colonies led them to take charge of how they wanted to live and rule themselves, following the rules of their doctrine in order to have secular laws that agreed with those of the church. In Pennsylvania, when Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson disagreed with parts of the Puritan doctrine and were therewith expelled from the colony, their formations of government in Providence and Portsmouth, Rhode Island, respectively, and the charter that they received from the English Parliament in 1644 proved that the dissidents were prepared to govern themselves and make a life that they wanted, without the greater governments coming in to take over. The religious tolerance that they established held up even for Jews and Catholics, a remarkable accomplishment at the time. In the Massachusetts Bay colony, the idea of a “city upon a hill” that shone its light to all men and proclaimed how they should live gave the Puritans a feeling of self-worth and importance, which showed itself in their Congregational Church government. The rise in the 18^th century of two tax-supported churches, Anglican and Congregational, also confirmed the fact that the colonies were beginning to take up the mantle of leadership and become ready to govern themselves.

The economics of the colonies was affected by mercantilism and salutary neglect, the effects of which were a greater knowledge of how much England depended on the colonies for the raw materials that they made finished products of and sold all over the world. The cross-breeding of tobacco in Virginia by John Rolfe began the rise of the cash crop known as “brown gold” for how well it sold to Britain—so well that many of the colonists used it to pay off their debts. Besides tobacco, the farmers and plantation owners of the colonies grew cotton, rice, flax, and vegetables for their own use, as well as for sale. The New Englanders sold the fish that they caught, especially cod, to ships bound for England. They were becoming self-sufficient in trade and money, and they thought themselves equal to England because they were an important trading stop for any merchant boat, which made them feel independent.

The social lives of the colonists of the time reflected their jobs. Diversity was spreading in careers, and the colonies now had every occupation from merchant and farmer to physician and clergymen, from slaves and paupers with no land and few rights to land owning aristocrats with thousands of acres a piece. Education was growing among the people: any town with fifty families or more was entitled to a primary school, and one with one hundred or more families was entitled to a secondary school, also. The colleges that were founded at the time were started in order to certify the clergymen who were needed and respected in the colonies, and the teaching of higher subjects and theories, such as, in the later 1700s, the theories of philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, whose ideas had a direct impact on the start of the Revolutionary War. Those same ideas led the colonists to think that self-government was possible, and a good idea. Social stability was growing in the colonies, and though it differed from the social statuses and beliefs of England, it was a sign of the colonies’ growing self-reliance and belief that they could take care of themselves even if something happened to England.

The colonies were developing the ideas, stability, self-worth, and reliance on themselves in their political, religious, economic, and social lives that showed their growing capability to rule themselves without the help of Britain and her government.

Author's Note

Essay written for my AP United States history class last year.

Reviews

[Jimmy.]

if you like fantasy. checkk out my stuff.