©Teaching is the Sweetest Thing 36

Colonial Government The colonies in the New World were under the authority of the English government. However,

England was many miles and an ocean away. At one point, England was also busy with its own civil war and at times warring with France. So, England was primarily just interested in maximizing the amount of money it could make from the colonies. This led to the idea that the colonies were simply around to make money for England. This idea is called mercantilism.  

Without England watching too closely, the colonies became very self-sufficient. It was important to them to have a say in how they were governed. They began to decide matters for themselves. Parliament gave the colonists permission to create their own laws and taxes. (Parliament is the group that makes laws in England.) The House of Burgesses and the Mayflower Compact were the two very first forms of government in which the colonists were able to represent themselves, which is called representative government.  

From the House of Burgesses and the Mayflower Compact, more structured forms of government were established as the colonies became more populated. The early colonial  governments were modeled after  Parliament. The King or Queen was at the head. Parliament included the House of Commons, a group of people that were elected, and the House of Lords, a group of people appointed by the King or Queen. The two Houses worked together to make laws. The House of Lords was also the highest court in England.  

Like the government in England, most colonies had three parts: a governor, a council, and an assembly. The governor controlled the military and set assembly meeting dates. The governor made all of the decisions in place of the Crown, meaning the king or queen of England. This made him the most powerful person in the colony. The governor had the power to veto, or stop from being passed, any law that was made by the assembly.  

Money was the main thing that governors did not have control over. Assemblies limited the power of the governor by controlling the money. The assembly also paid the governor’s salary, which gave them some power over him. Assemblies were made of colonists from each town who worked together with colonists from other towns to make laws. White landowning males were the only ones who were eligible for election to the assembly, and the citizens of each colony elected assemblies.  

Word Count: 522

AMERICAN COLONIES VOL. 2

FAST FACT: The first colonial assembly was the House of Burgesses, which was organized in Virginia in 1619.  

The third governing body in the colonies was the council. Each colony had a  council,  also known as the Senate, which enforced laws, advised the governor, and helped pass laws. The Council was also usually the highest court in the colony. Council members were chosen to serve by the Crown. They were usually the wealthiest people in the colony.  

There were many towns within each colony. Each town had its own local government. The local government took care of issues that only related to the  individual town, such as local roads. Selectmen were elected by the people to run the local government. They appointed the people who ran the town, such as the tax collector. The New England region’s local government was based on towns and town meetings. Local governments in the Southern region were based on counties. Towns were few and far between in this region because of plantations. The Middle region had a mix of both town and county local governments.