Monday September 29th the roots of Representative Government
VOCABULARY FOR THE READING
Salutary Neglect = Salutary neglect means “leaving alone in a helpful way.”
Magna Carta = Gave the English People certain rights in England
Colonists =people who lived in the Thirteen Colonies
Parliament = England Legislature or the Representatives who make laws for them
Self-rule = someone being trained by someone else at a job that takes skill.
Publish = make papers or print things that you read
Enlightenment = movement that valued reason and science.
Beginning of or root Roots of Representative Government
Main Idea: Colonists expected their government to preserve or guarantee their basic rights as English subjects.
Long before the colonies were founded, English people expected certain rights. In 1215, England’s King John signed the Magna Carta, which guaranteed certain rights. It stated that people could not be put on trial without witnesses and could only be punished by a jury of their peers. The Magna Carta also prevented the king from seizing or taking property and limited his right to tax.
What two major rights did the Magna Carta give to the English people and the Colonies’?
The colonists modeled or created their government on Parliament, England’s chief lawmaking body. Parliament is made up of two houses. Members of one house, the House of Commons, are elected by the people. Similarly or in the same way, American colonists elected their own assemblies, which gave them some self-rule. All the same, the English king and Parliament still had power over them.
How is today’s Congress Just like the Congress in the United States?
James II became England’s king in 1685. He combined Massachusetts and other northern colonies into the Dominion of New England and named Edmund Andros as its governor. Andros angered the colonists by ending their representative assemblies.
Why did people see the actions of the governor as Bad?
Soon, however, a change in England’s leadership occurred. Fearing the Catholicism of King James, Parliament’s leaders offered the throne to the king’s Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange. They accepted and King James fled. This change is called the Glorious Revolution.
William and Mary soon signed the English Bill of Rights, which stated that the government was to be based on laws made by Parliament. The Bill strengthened the rights of the English people. The colonists quickly claimed these rights. They jailed Governor Andros and asked Parliament to reinstate their old government.
How did the English Parliament guarantee rights to the people?
After the Glorious Revolution, Massachusetts colonists could again elect representatives to an assembly. Their governor, however, was still chosen by the crown. During the first half of the 1700s, England maintained a policy of salutary neglect towards the colonists. Salutary neglect means “leaving alone in a helpful way.”
Can you predict anything that might happen because of this neglect?
In 1735, John Peter Zenger was tried for publishing criticism of the government. Zenger published the New-York Weekly Journal, in which New York’s governor was criticized. Zenger’s lawyer argued that people had the right to speak the truth. When Zenger was set free, the colonists moved closer to gaining freedom of the press.
Homework: Peter Zenger Trial Handout.
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