The futt-Paeeillustration at the beginningof this unit is a photogripn of the colonial capitol of Yirginia in Williarnsburg. The smallZr illustration of the interior shous the hall of the House of Burgesses,the oldest reptesentative assemblyin the New World.

Frcm Vice.rointt: USA bv Bernerd Fcdcr. Copyright @ 1967 by Amcicert Bool C.ompeny.

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i%t H@NZDID DtrNA@CRAC)T DtrVtrt@P IN C@L@NIAL AAAtrRICA?

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in colonial America' Like the first Most historians see the development of de- mocracv section, the second consists of ex,cerptsfrom mocracy in A.rnericaas a continuous process' primary sources-- documents and contempo- with iti beginnings in England' The English' rarl' writings. who came to dominate the North American The third section is composedof quotations continent, brought with them a tradition of from secondary sources' itttetptetations and representative government and civil liberty' analysesby modern historians' These interpre- trris tradition was reflected in the establish- t.tio"t ,^ry, and sometimesconflict' Some of mentofcolonialrepresentativeassembliesand "rights the writers offer contradictory explanationsfor in the jealous protection of the of En- the development of democracy in early Amer- glishmen" - tiial by jr1rJ, free spe:+ and ica; othert d.tty that colonial societywas demo- F."edo- from unreasonable arrest and impris- cratic-- at all. onment. The first section of this chapter pre- it it expected that before yo-uread the third sents the major documents of English liberty you will have become familiar with the and a statementby a r 7th century English phi- section, facts. The selectionscan make no losopher of a poliiical theory that was to have a historicai unless you have a firm understanding of p.oforrttd influence on our own Declaration of sense the events and movements to which these au- Independence. refer. Aicording to the traditional view, the seeds thors of liberty attd self-government became even more firmly implanted in the colonies' The ..tfy settleis, on the edggof the wilderness and far from the center of English government' What Was the English Heritage wereforcedtodevelopaspiritofself-reliance. of Freedom? In , thev banded together to build This government"s based on compacts, or mutual r. The Magna Carta limits royal p-ower', iGreat in agreements. Elsewhere, local gov-ernments Chalrter" was signed by King John English dEvelopedto meet the particular needs of each tzrJ, at the demand-of rebellious to protect community.Intime,thesecolonialassemblies baroirs. While these nobles wanted is con- andlocalgovernmentscameintoconflictwith their own feudal rights, the document democracy ih" .oy"l governors'representing a distant and sidered the first *ajot step toward principle that authoiitarian government. Frontier life was in England. It estiblished the influential in ihe development of a spirit of the king is not above the law. and social equality, a man independence -since. r. We have granted to God and was on the frontier, by his abilities' ludged, by this confirmed, for us and our not his iocial status. The second section of heirs forever, that the English'Church shall this chapter deals with the expansion of de- 2 eunnrce? 2 .Ow' DID DEMocRAcY DEYELoP rN coLoNIAL

PhotogaPh oi reYerse courtetY of H, Armstrong Kobertt be free and shall have its rights entire and What rights can you identify in the its liberties inviolate [untouched] Question: Magna Carta that we take for granted today? rz. Scutage tax] or aid ffeudal tax on [military Check the Bill of Rights of the shall be levied in our kingdom only nobles] Constitution. by the common counsel fcouncil] of our kingdom, except for ransoming our body, 'I-he for knighting our eldest son, and for once z, Petition of Right reaffirmsbasic rights. kings of_the marrying our eldest daughter; and for Repeated violations by the Stuart in the Magna Carta resulted in these purposes only a reasonable aid shall guirantees Parhament's refusal to levy additional taxes be taken until Charles I agreed to sign the Petition of 2r. Earls and barons shall be amerced ffined] Right. only by their peers, and only according to the degree of the misdeed. . Whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute made in the time of the reign of King 38. No bailiff shall henceforth put any one to that from thenceforth his law [on trial] by merely bringing suit Edward the First person be compelled to make any fagainst him] without trustworthy wit- no should nesses loans to the king against his will Yet nevertheless your people have been 39. No freeman shall be captured or im- money prisoned or disseisedfdispossessed] or out- . required to lend certain sums of lawed, or exiled or in any way destroyed, unto your majesty nor will we send against him, ex- And where also by the statute called the cept by the lawful judgment of his peers Great Charter of the Liberties of England, it or by the law of the land. is declared and enacted that no freeman may or imprisoned or be deprived of his 4c.. To no one will we sell, to no one will we be taken deny or delay right or justice. freehold or liberties or be outlawed or 6t. the barons shall elect any twenty- exiled but by the lawful iudgment of five barons of the kingdom, who to the best his peers or by the law of the land, neverthe- of their ability should observe the less divers fsome] of your subjects have peace and liberties which we have granted of late been imprisoned without any cause . so that if we or anY of showed; and no cause was certified, but our ministers are in any respect delin- that they were detained by your majesty's spe- quent toward any one or transgress any cial command article those twenty-five barons to- And whereas of late great companies of sol- gether with the community of the entire diers and mariners have been dispersecl into country, shall distressand injure us in all divers counties and the inhabitants ways possible - namely by capturing our against their wills have been compelled to re- castles,lands, possessions,and in all ways ceive them into their houses that they can - until they secure redress They do therefore humbly pray your most according to their own decision excellent majesty that no man hereafter be Given by our hand in the meadow that is compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, without called Runnymede June r 5, in the benevolence, tax, or such like charge seventeenth year of our reign. common consent by act of parliament, and called to make answer or take Magna Carta, June 15, r2rr. C. Ste- that none be phensonand F. G. Marcham, Sourcesof such oath or to give attendance or be confined English and Constitutional History. New or otherwise molested concerning the 1937, 115-26 York. Harper and Row, fret'tnan be im- passim. same and that no

rIOW DID DEMOCRACY DF]VELOP IN COLONIAL AITNNTCN? . after his commitment he prisoned or detained; and that your mliesty slon discharged from his imPrisonment iould be pleasedto removethe said soldiers shall be and mariners; and that your people may not ftZg. Soutces of be so burdened in time to come Habeas CorPus Act, Englislt. Coistitutional History, 5r7-r8' All of which they most humbly pray of your mostexcellent majesty as their rights and liber- laws and staturesof this ties accordingto the Resedrch:Article I, Sec. 9 and Amendment 6 of realm the United States Constifution contain provisions to the Habeas Corpus Act' Petition of Right, June 7, 16z8' Sources that can be traced of English Constitutional History, 450-52' Identify and summarize these provisions'

are listed in the suprerna- Question: Identify rights that 4. The Bill of Rights establishesthe F.titiot, of Right ittat n"a already been stated in cy of Parliarnent. Fearful that Jame_sII was it considered neces' religion on the Magna Caita. Why was -England-,planning to re-impose the Catholic sarv to restate them? Parliament offered the throne to Maiy, James' Protestant daughter, and ht1 hnsbattd, William of Orange. William and Act guarantees the 3. The Habeas Corpus Mary accepted the throne and agreed to sign Parlia- iightt of accused persons. In 1679, the English Bill of Rights in 1689. ment acted to prevent arbitrary arrests and being now assem- imprisonment. A writ of habeas corpws is a . the said lords of this i.g"fft enforceable demand that an imprisoned bled in a full and free representation p."rrot be charged with a specified crime or be nation declare that the pretended power released. of suspending of laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority without consent of parlia- Whereas many of the king's subiects ment, is illegal; have been long detained in prison in such that levying money for or to the use of the caseswhere by law they are bailable be crown . . without grant of parliament it enacted that whenever any person is illegal; shall bring any habeas corpus unto any that it is the right of the subiects to petition sheriff king, and all commitments and prosecu- . the said officer shall within three the tions for such petitioning are illegal; days bring or cause to be brought the that the raising or keeping a standing army bohy of the p"tiy so committed or restrained the kingdom in time of peace' unless it before the lord chancellor or the within with consent of parliament, is against judges or barons and shall then be law; certify the true causes of his imprisonment that election of members of parliament to be free; And if any person or persons committed ought Ihat the freedom of speech and debates or . shall not be indicted [charged with a proceedings in parliament ought not to be im- crime] the judges are herebY re- peached or questioned in any quired upon motion in open court to set [discredited] court at liberty the prisoner upon bail ' And if that excessivebail ought not to be required' any person committed as aforesaid nor excessivefines imposed, nor cruel and un- rft"f not be indicted and tried the second ses-

eurnrce? 4 How DrD DEMocRAcY DEvELoP IN coLoNIAL ought to be de- usual punishments inflicted Secondly, these laws also but the good And they do claim, demand, and insist upon signed for no other end of the people. all [these rights] as their undoubted not raise taxes on the rights and liberties Thirdly, they must property of the people rvithout the consent of of Rights,December, 1689' Sources BiIt people of English Constitutional History, 6oo- the 6or. Wh.tt.u.r the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery theY Put Research:How many of the rights listed here can themselves into a state of war with the people, States you find in the Bill of Rights of th-. United who are thereupon absolved from any further other parts of the Constitu- bonstitution? In obedience and are left to the common refuge tion? which God hath provided for all men against force and violence. that all rnen are cre- j. lohn Locke declares ]ohn Locke,Second Treatise of Civil Gw' Leaflets,No' zo8' ated equal. Justifying the Glorious Revolu- erntnent, Old South Old South Association[n'd']' tion of 1688 (see no. 4), Locke stated ideas . that rvere later to find their way into the American Declaration of Independence. Research:Identify and list Locke's main ideas' The state of nature has a law of nature to What similarities are there between these ideas govern it, which obliges everyone; and reason, and those in the second paragraph of the Dec' What differences? which is that law, teaches all mankind laration of Independence? that, being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, liberty, or possessions Men being, as has been Did Democracy Expand in the English said, by nature all free, equal, and indepen- Colonies? dent, no one can be put out of this estate and 6. The Second Charter of the Virginia Cotn' subjected to the political power of another panl, May 23, r6o9. Colonists pointed to without his own consent, which is done by the terms of the charters granted by the king agreeing with other men to ioin-and unite into as a form of contract between the king and community for their comfortable, safe, and a the colony. The king, they clairned, was living one amongst another peaceable bound by his grants and Promises. lhe majority have the right to agt and conclude DO . GIVE' GRANT, and the rest wE trusty and well-beloved Sub- The supreme power cannot take from.any coNFrRM, to our jects, to such as theY man any part of his property without his own and joined with them, that they consent admit to be Commonalty perpetual These are the bounds which societY, shall be one Body or theY shall be known, and the law of'God and Nature, have set to . and that incorporated by the Name of, the the legislative power of every commonwealth called, and of Adttenturers and 'Firrt, Treasurer and Company I London the they are to govern bY estab- Planters of the City of for first lished laws, not to be varied in particular Colony in Virginia we do crvE and cases. but to have one rule for the rich and And further Authority to our said poor cRANT full Power and

HOlv DID DEMOCRACY DEVELOP IN COLONIAL ETVTNNTCE? due submission and obedience' IN Council, here resident to make, ordain, promise all whereof we have hereunto subscribed and establish all Manner of Orders, Laws, Di- iitrr.r, at Cape Cod the eleventh of No- rections, Instructions, Forms, and Ceremonies our names in the reign of our Sovereign Lord of Government fit and necessary, for vember, the fifty-fourth Anno Dom- . the Government of the said Colony and King lames Plantation. ini, t6zo. AND further in all Questions and Mayfl.owerCompact, November rr, 16zo' and State Constitu- Doubts that shall arise upon any Difficulty of Poore, The Federal tions . , Part I, 93r. Construction or Interpretation of Anything contained either in this, or in our former Let- shall be taken and inter- ters-patents, the same Research: Investigate further and find out how and beneficial manner preted in most ample many of the men on the Mayflower signed this for the said Treasurer and ComPanY document. How many did not? Can you ex- SecondCharter of Virginia, May 23, t6o9' plain? B. P. Poore, ed., The Federal and State boistitutions, Colonial Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United-States' B. The Fundaruental Orders of , lSgl fi' Washingion, t877, Part II, January 14, 1639. This document was the first written constitution developed in Amer- specific rules of government' of this charter ica; it provided Question: Explain-by how terms iuld be used later coloniststo iustify defian-ce . we the inhabitants and residents of regulating the colo' of laws passedby Parliament Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield nies. well knowing where a people are gathered to- gether the word of God requires that to main- a people The Mayflower Comytact, November r r ' iain the peace and union of such 7. govern- t6zo. This was a written agreement among there should be an orderly and decent do the Pilgrim leaders for the establishment of a ment established according to God poiiti."i community based on the principle of therefore associate ourselves to be as gou.ttt*ent bY mutual consent' one public state or commonwealth; and do, and our successors enter . We whose names are underwritten for ourselves combination and confederation together, . Having undertaken, for the Glory of into to maintain and preserve the liberty and pu- God and Advancement of the Christian Faith, rity of the gospel of our Lord, Jesus and and the Honour of our King and Country, a also in our civil affairs to be guided and gov- Voyage to plant the first colony in the north- erned according to such laws, rules, orders, ern p-"artof Virginia, do by these presents-sol- and decrees as shall be made, ordered and de- .rrrrriy and -utually in the presence of God, creed, as follows: and one of another' covenant and combine our- r. It is ordered, sentenced,and decreed that selves together into a civil body politic for-our there shall be yearly two general assem- better ordering and preservation and further- blies or courts; The first shall be ance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue here- called the Court of Election, wherein shall of, to enact, constitute, and frame such iust be yearly chosen so many magis- and equal laws, ordinances,acts, constitutions' trates and other public officers as shall be and offi..t from time to time, as shall be found requisite, whereof one to be chosen thought most meet and convenient for the governor for the year ensuing and until gerre.al good of the colony unto which we

elmnrce? 6 How DID DEMocRAcY DEVELoP rN coLoNIAL another be chosen, and there be six your good. Wherein if we fail at any time, chosen besides the governor; which being we hope we shall be willing (by God's assist- chosen and sworn according to an oath ance) to hearken to good advice from any of . shall have power to administer jus- you, or in any other way of God. So shall tice according to the laws here estab- your liberties be preserved, in upholding the Iished honor and power of authority amongst you' no be 4. It is ordered that Person John Winthrop, The History of New En- chosen governor above once in two years' gland, Boston,r853, II, z8r-82. and that the governor be always a member of some approved congregation Question: How did Governor Winthrop define I I. It is ordered that when any gen- liberty? Why would such a definition be un- has agreed uPon any eral court acceptableto most Americanstoday? . sums of money to be levied upon the several towns within this jurisdiction . a committee be chosen to set out io. Roger Williams advocates religior,tsfree' Rhode and appoint what shall be the proportion tlom. Roger Williams, who founded from religious persecution, of every town to pay of the said levy, pro- Island as a refuge objects to the enforced religious confotmity of vided the committees be made up of an thi Puritans of MassachusettsBay Colony. equal number out of each town. First. That the blood of so many hundred FundamentalOrders of Connecticut,I anu- ary 14, t63g, AdaPtedfrom Poore,The thousand souls of Protestantsand Papists, spilt Federal and State ConstitutiollS , ' t in the wars of present and former ages, for Part I, 249-52. their respective consciences,is not required nor accepted by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Which sections of this document Question: Sixth, It is the will and command of God would you consider democratic? IJndemo- (since the coming of his Son, the Lord cratic? Why? that Jesus) a permission of the most pagan' Jewish, Turkish, or anti-Christian consciences and g. Governor lohn Wint.hroytof worships be granted to all men in all nations defines liberty. This definition is generally and countries accepted as representative of the Puritan atti- Etghth. God requires not a uniformity of re- tude. ligion to be enacted and enforced in any civil uniformitY is the Even so, brethren, it will be between you state enforced of civil war, ravishing of con- and your magistrates. If you stand for your greatest occasion of Christ in his ser- natural corrupt liberties, and will do what is science,persecution Jesus and destruction of good in your own eyes,you u'ill not endure the vants, and of the hypocrisy least weight of authorit,v, but will murmur, and millions of souls. true civility and Christianity oppose, and be always striving to shake off that Twetfth. Lastly, in a state or kingdom, not- yoke. But if you will be satisfied to enjoy may both flourish permission of divers and such civil and lawful liberties, such as Christ witirstanding the either of or Gentile' allows you, then vvill you quietly and cheer- contrary consciences, Jew government of the civil magistrate fully submit unto that authority which is set . the than over the bodies and over you, in all the administrations of it, for extends no further

HOlv DID DEMOCRACY DEVELOP IN COLONIAL EUTNTC'I? goods of their subjects, not over their souls, like are to be restrained and Pun- and therefore they may not undertake to give ished by civil authority. laws. unto the souls and consciences of men Cotton Mather, Magnalia,' Chtisti Ameri' . the Church of Christ does not use the cana. Hartford, Conn. Silas Andrus, arm of secular power to compel men to the r855, II, 22i,236. (Spelling brought up-to-date.) true profession of the truth, for this is to be done with spiritual weapons, whereby Chris- tians are to be exhorted, not compelled. Question: How did the Puritans iustify excluding persons from church membership? How might The Bloody Tenent Roger Williams, [tenet this infuence Puritan views on political democ- or doctrinel of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, t644. Providence. Narra- lacy? gansett Club Publications, r866-7o, III, 3-4, 349. (Spelling brought up-to-date.) 12. Town neetings proaide for direct democ- racy. All church-going property-holders were eligible to attend and vote on local issues. The Question: How does Williams iustify separation is a record of such a meeting in New of church and state? In what ways are his argu- following ments similar to or difierent from those that are Jersey. used today? At a meeting touching the indented design of many of the inhabitants of Branford, the following was subscribed: r r. Puritan leadersreiect Williatns' ideas. In r st. that none shall be admitted freemen or 1649, the General Court of Massachusetts free burgesses within our town upon Passaic adopted a Platforru of Church Discipline, Bay River in the Province of New Jersey,but such the organization of the church and dejcribing planters as are members of some or other of the relation of church and state. the Congregational Churches nor shall any but r. The doors of the churches of Christ upon such be chosen to magistracy or to carry on earth do not by God's appointment stand so any part of civil judicature, or as deputies or wide open, that all sorts of people, good assistants, to have power to vote in establish- and bad, may freely enter therein at their ing laws, and making or repealing them pleasure,(z Chr. xxxix. l9; Mat. xiii. 25, Nor shall any but such church members have and xxii rz) but such as are admitted any vote in any such elections; though all oth- thereto, as members, ought to be examined ers admitted to be planters have right to their and tried first, whether they be fit and meet proper inheritance, and do and shall enioy all to be received into church-society or other civil liberties and privileges, according not to all laws, orders, grants which are, or here- 6. . The end of the magistrate's office is after shall be made for this town not only the quiet and peaceablelife of the Records of the Town of Newark, New Jer- subject in matters of righteousness and sey Historical Society Collections. New- honesty, but also in matters of godliness; ark, 1864, VI, 3 ff. yea, of all godliness 8. Idolatry, blasphemy, heresy (Deut. xiii; Question: Identify a point in this record that you and I Kings xx 28.42), venting corrupt would cite as evidence of democracy. What pernicious opinions profanation of would you cite as evidence of an undemocratic the Lord's-Day, disturbing the peace- attitude? What examplescan you give of direct able administration and exerciseof the wor- democracyin our country today? ship and holy things of God and the 8 How DID DEMocRAcY DEvELoP IN coLoNrAL eurnrce? 8 "ylowerof the year the young people go from r 3. Colonial assembliesuse the And every in the neigh- \nrrsc." Governor Thomas Pownall complains this province and purchase land that the assembly grants appropriations of boring colonies, while much better and every money for only one year at a time, making the way more convenient lands lie useless to the royal-governor dependent on _the popularly King and country. The reason for this is that The assemblies saw them- electeil assembly. the grantees [the large landlords] themselves Parliament's control over selvesas inheritors of are not, nor never were in a capacity to im- and finances. I taxation prove such large tracts and other people will The Crown does, by its instructions to its not become their vassals or tenants for one governors, order them to require of the legisla- great reason leaving their native coun- ture a permanent support. This order of the iry, *"t to avoid dependence on landlords, and crown is generally, if not universally reiected, to enjoy in fee foutright ownership of land] to by the legislatures of the colonies. The as- descend to their posterity that their children semblies quote the precedents of the British may reap the benefit of their labor and in- constitution, and found all the rights and priv- dustry. claim on the principles ileges which they D. M. Ellis et al., A Short History of the thereof. They S{, under the circum- State of New York Cornell Univ., 1957, stances in which they find themselves, that 7r. there is no other measure left to them to pre- vent the misapplication of public money, than How might the availability of unset- by an annual voting and appropriation of the Question: tled and cheap land have promoted democracy of the governor and other civil officers, I salaries in colonial America? issuing from monies lodged in the hands of a provincial treasurer appointed by the assem- blies the colonists themselves allow, that of r r. The Zenger trial establishesfreedom "renders the governor' and all the this measure the press. John Peter Zenger, a newspaper other servants of the crown, dependent on the publisher, *it tried in r73r-for sedition and assemblv." iib"l, becausehe had attacked policies of Gov- ernor Cosby of New York. Below is part of Thomas Pownall, The Administration of the Colonies. London, t765, 5o-54. the argument by Andrew Hamilton,,Zenger's Cited in A. B. Hart, American History defense attorney. Zenger's acquittal is- g9n- Totd by Contemporaries. New York. erally viewed as a landmark in the struggle for t67-68. Macmillan[c. rgzS] tg6t,II, a free press. It is agreed upon by all men that this is a "The men keep within Question: assembliesquote the precedents reign of liberty, and while of the British constitution . . ." Find a docu- the bounds of truth, I hope they may with ment in the first section of this chapter that colo' safety both speak and write their sentiments nists might have used to back up their position of the conduct of men in power - I mean of and finances. that they had control ovpr taxation that part of their conduct only which affects for the colonists. Presentthe case the liberty or property of the people Were this to be denied, then the next step may f make them slaves. For what notions can be r Cheayt Land attracts small farmers to the $ 4. entertained of slavery beyond that of suffering ll/cst. Cadwallader Colden, later to become the greatest injuries and oppressions without Lieutenant-Governor of New York, complains the liberty of comPlaining that grants of land to large landholders drove the court and you, gen- small farmers away. The question before 9

9 How DID DEMocRAcY DEVELoP rN coLoNIAL aurnrce? theological use of it, but tlemen of the iury, is not of small nor private of the contemporary concern, it is not the cause of a poor printer, because the extensive and close reading of the nor of New York alone, which you are now Bible among all classes made the idea com- trying. No! It may in its consequenceaffect mon coin. The covenants with Adam, with every freeman that lives under a British gov- Noah, and with Abraham were well-known man ernment on the main of America It is Biblical agreements between God and Bib- the cause of liberty by an impartial and . It was natural that this religious or extended to civil af- uncorrupt verdict, fyou will] have laid a noble lical example should be foundation for securing to ourselves, our pos- fairs, especially in a nerv land where the usual terity, and our neighbors, that to which nature sanctions for government were wanting and the laws of our country have given us a Since the Church, according to Puritan only right - the liberty, both of exposing and op- thought, could be brought into existence posing arbitrary power by speaking and by the action of the whole membership, and the writing truth. the minister was called and ordained by congregation, it was hardly to be expected that Rutherford, PeterZenger, Livingston lohn remain outside such pop- His Press,His Trial and a Bibliographyof the state would long ZengerImPrints, New York, tgo4, 76- ular participation. It was this germ of de- tz5 Passim, mocracy which never ceasedto ferment within the hard shell of Puritan government. Research question: Andrew Hamilton was a Phil' Carl N. Degler,Out of Out Past' Colo- adelphia lawyer. Find why it was necessaryfor phon edition; New York. HarPer and Zenger to get a defense attorney from out of Row, r 959, 23-24. town. writer points to Puritan in- Question: According to Hamilton, what should t7. But another be the test of Zenger's innocence or guilt? Is tolerance and authoritarian methods. this the standardused todaY? The Puritans were called upon to square the rights of Englishmen and the terms of their charters with their own accountability to God Do Historians See the Roots of and the rule of God's word . They had no Democracy in Colonial America? intention of admitting either liberty or tolera- tion in matters of faith and worship or of pop- historian seesthe beginnings of colo- r 6. One ular rule in matters of government, both of nial democracyin the Puritan idea of the cove- which were dishonorable to religion and an af- nant - the agreeruentbetween the ruler and front to the Lord. There was no democracy the ruled. in Israel, as Winthrop said, and, he added, If representative government can be said to among the civil nations of the world it was ac- have triumphed in the seventeenth century, it counted the meanest of all forms of govern- can also be said that the idea of democracy, ment, to allow which was contrary to the fifth defined as government by the consent of all the commandment. Furthermore to the Puritans governed, was born in that century ' the religion and government - their two leading beginnings of the democratic idea are already and all-important interests - were inextrica- to be found in the Puritans' conception of the bly interlocked, admitting of no such thing as covenant. The idea of an agreement between a separation of church. and state. ruled as the basis for govern- the ruler and the CharlesM. Andrews,The ColonialPeriod ment was very well understood in seventeenth- of American History. Yale Univ', 1934, century Protestant America, not only because l, ++6.

IO DEMocRAcy DEvELoP rN coLoNrAL eurnrce? l0 the frontier is productive of individual- Winthrop to is anti-social' It Question: Why was it natural for ism The tendency h-ave,eferred io ancient Israel as a Precedent? produces antipathy lantagonism] to control Why would democracy be contrary to the fifth . The tax-gatherer is viewed as a repre- commandment? sentative of oppression The frontier in- dividualism has from the beginning promoted rB. Degler seeseconontic oTtTtortunitlt ac' ths democracy l

ll How DrD DEMocRAcY DEvELOP IN coLoNIAL AMEnrce? arc

22. But still another writer claims that poli- Question: Was the development of political de' cies rnade in London sometirnes prevented the mocracy mainly the result of frontier individual- developrnentof self-gouernment. He cites the "welfare ism or the contacts of city life? .What further establishment of a project" in Georgia. information would you need before you could Since Georgia's public expenses were cov- answer this question? Prepare a list of research gifts charitable individuals or by problems to be investigated in order to answer it. ered by the of governmental appropriations from England, there was no need for the colonists to pay taxes; and hence no representative assembly zr. Oscar Handlin believes that the col'onists was needed to levy taxes. For many years were into self-goverwnent as a result forced there was no foundation for self-government of colonial circumstances and disinterest on settlers of the colonY, who the part of the English government. in Georgia. The would otherwise presumably have been con- them settlers] were al- . Among fthe fined to a London iail or have wandered the most no men who had had any experience with streets without employment, were public bene- the upper levels of political administration ficiaries. As wards of the community, they . As a result the colonists were often were without any right to complain. forced to improvise they were driven to Daniel Boorstin, The Americans: The with their own approximations J. act in accord Colonial Experience. New York. Ran- of what seemed right under their own circum- dom House, r958, 8f-86. stances The sheer distance of the colonies in Amer- "Pob- Research:Why were the Georgia colonists ica from the capitals in Europe had somewhat lic beneficiaries"? Find the background for the same result The slowness of com- the settlement of Georgia. munications left an imposing gap between ev- ery order and its fulfillment Under these conditions, large measures of local dis- 23. One writer finds evidence of local demo- cretion were unavoidable and the intentions cratic spirit in the colonial revolts against the of the rulers only incompletely became the royal goaernors. realities of the New World. Examples of sectional and economic con- period English- . through this whole flicts during the colonial period are common. pressing subjects of po- men had . more One of the most famous was Bacon's Rebellion litical concern Few gave much thought G6Z6) in Virginia. Here economic distress, colonies to the remote and unproductive high taxes, and the failure of Governor in London had lit- As a result, decisions made Berkeley aggressively to prosecute the Indian insti- tle effect upon the developing American war, led the frontiersmen and small planters tutions. to rise under Nathaniel Bacon, gain possession laws Oscar Handlin, The Americans, Boston. of the legislature, and pass a series of Little, Brown and Co., t963, 4r-rr aimed to strengthen the local democracy. passim. With the death of Bacon the rebellion col- lapsed and the whole episode strength- ened for the time being arbitrary rule in Vir- Question: Edmund Burke, an English leader, referred to the English attitude toward the colo- ginia. "wise nies as one of a and salutary [wholesome] Harold U. Faulkner, American Political neglect." Explain. and Social History. New York. F. S. Crofts, t946, 39, t2 How DrD DEMocRAcy DEvELoP rN coLoNIAL lurnrce? 12 24. But another sees such strugglesas con- Perhaps more citizens were kept from the flicts over the distributiort of weahh, rather polls by indifference than by law. A large than a sign of giou,ing democracy. share of the population . came from in England that had never taken It was over the allocation of prizes that the classes part governing process . At all local gentry sometimesfell out. Political con- in the it seems safe to say that from one-half flicts generally originated in disputes about the events, to two-thirds of the adult males did not vote, award of these concessions. where interest in po- In Virginia such conflicts culminated even in Massachusetts ran unusually high ln Bacon's Rebellion of r676. Nathaniel litical affairs it is sometimes imagined, on the Bacon, a gentleman of good family and liberal Although fictions, that the colonies education, but very ambitious and arrogant basis of schoolbook formed on the pure . found himself at odds with the clique were local democracies principles of a New World philosophy and around Governor Berkeley. Bacon had land, founded on substantial economic equality, the but wanted more; he wished an aggres- facts of the case lend little color to that sive Indian policy. He drew around him mal- view contents aggrieved because the country's In seaboard New England the dominant or- wealth had been committed into the hands of der was composed principally of rich mer- the men in authority and favor The up- chants the salt-water merchants man- rising at first had a measureof success. But it aged the politics of New England legislatures dissolved, as did similar uprisings in other col- with little interference from farmers and me- onies, when it became clear that the destruc- chanics and servants. tion of privilege might also destroy the order Below the Potomac the upper classes had of which privilege was a part. another foundation - the landed estate kept Handlin, The Americans, 53. intact from generation to generation as in En- gland Like lords and squires in the mother country, slave-holding barons took the Question: What other facts would you need to know before you could reach a conclusion as to Iead in politics as they did in social affairs. At whether such struggles were democratic upris- elections held in the open air in county towns, ings or conflicts between rival economic groups? they easily cowed all but the bravest freehold- ing farmers and named their own men for public office. zr. The Beardsargue that there was little de- Beard, The ntocracy fu thc coloniesshrce only the uplier CharlesA. Beard and Mary Riseof AmericanCiuilization, New York. classcs1t'cre rcprescnted in the assemblies. Macmillan (rggr) 196r, I, ro9-ro, As the economic structure of colonial Amer- rz6-27. ica rose firmly on its foundations there were also erected institutions of self-government 26. Robert E. Brotrrn questions the Beards' which served the ruling orders well Soon argurnents, and concludes that there was de- after its inception, every colony could boast of nlocracy in colonial L4assachusetts. I a popular assembly elected by voters who pos- Economically speaking, it was a middle- sessed the established property qualifications class society in which property was easily ac- . To the property tests were sometimes quired and in which a large portion of the peo- added religious provisions: Catholics and Jews ple were property-owning farmers Eco- were often disfranchised by law and to some nomic opportunity, or economic democracy, in extent in practice turn contributed to political democracy. r3

17 How DrD DEMocRAcy DEvELop IN coLoNrAL eunnrce? +

the amount of property required for the fran- lieve in democracy. Even if we agree that chise was very small and the great ma- there was virtually manhood suffrage in Massa- jority of men could easily meet the require- chusetts, it is difficult, for me at least, to see it ments When Hutchinson said that any- as a democracy. In 176o the government was thing that looked like a man was a voter and controlled by a superb political machine that policy in general was dictated by the headed by Thomas Hutchinson, who lower classes,he was certainly using the term [controlled] nearly every important political "democracy" as we mean it now. A Hutchin- office in the colony except the governorship. son might deplore the view that government The Hutchinson oligarchy controlled the su- existed for the benefit of the people but perior court, the council, the county courts, this is the democratic idea and the justices of the peace [etc.] In The number of men who could vote in the terms'of political support between 176o and colony must not be confused with the number 176r, if Massachusetts had a democratic who did vote. It is one thing if a man leader, that man was Thomas Hutchinson, a wants the vote but cannot meet the property charge to which he would have been the first to requirements; it is another if he has the vote issue a horrified denial. but fails to use it. Neither should we confuse . before r7T4 or rT75 the revolution- the issue by giving percentages of voters in ary movement was not a democratic movement, terms of the entire population, for probably except by inadvertence. The pamphleteers less than 20 per cent of the people in colonial who wrote on political and constitutional ques- times were adult men. tions, and the town and county meetings and . Neither can religious democracy be legislatures that resolved endlessly were ignored as a factor We must remember concerned with the formulation of constitu- that the people of Massachusetts were accus- tional arguments Their essential con- tomed to a church organization which lived by cern was wifh the relaiionship that existed, or democratic procedures ought to exist, between the British government . This study of Massachusetts raises and the colonial governments, and not with some rather serious questions about our inter- the relationship between man as man, and gov- pretation of colonial society . in other ernment itself when it was suggested colonies. Were the other colonies as undemo- that the arguments against taxation by parlia- cratic as we have supposed them to be? Was ment were equally applicable to the taxation their economic and social life dominated by a of under-represented areas in the colonies, or coastal aristocracy of planters in the South and to dissenting religious groups, such suggestions merchants in the North? were looked upon as being quite out of order. "Democracy Robert E. Brown, Middle-ClassDemocracy Merrill ]ensen, and the Amer- and the Revolution in Massachusetts, ican Revolution," Huntington Library r69r-r78o. CornellUniv., r955, VII, Quarterly,XX, August,rgj7, 325-26. 4or:-4o8 passim.

27. And in turrx, Brown is challengedby an- Research:What were the property qualifications other u,riter, who clnims that neither hlassa- for voting in Massachusetts? New York? Were chuscttssociety nor the American llevohftiort there religious qualifications for voting in these ulere dcmocraticallv bssed. colonies? What was Thomas Hutchinson's offi- cial position in Massachusetts? ( See the Beard . Colonial governments on the eve of and Brown books for some answersto these ques- the Revolution did not function democrati- tions. ) cally, nor did the men who controlled them be- r+ How DrD DEMocRAcy DEvELop IN coLoNIAL AMEnrca? l1 'liberty' zB. Charles IlL Andrat,s says that Ttolitical documents of the seventeenthcentury and social dcmocracv irt America developed had any influence on later events." (Andrews, only sincc the American llcvolwtion. The Colonial Period of American History, II, r4.,) Give your reasonsfor agreeingor dis- Self-government during our colonial pe- "democracy," agreeing. riod in 'no sense implied In your opinion, what was the influence of and much misunderstood 4. if by that evasive each of the following in the later development akin to political term is meant something of American government? Present supporting equity, universal suffrage, the right of the ma- evidence. "rights jority to rule and popular sovereignty or gov- a) the traditional of Englishmen." ernment by consent of the governed. There b) the popular assemblies. "democracyl' was no struggle for in that sense c) the New England comPacts. of the word, in colonial times the politi- d) the influence of the frontier. "salutary neglect." cal and social democracy of our national era e) the policy of was in fact the product of the Revolution and READING of the years that followed and only to a small SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL extent, the outcome of efforts begun Colonial Development cluring colonial times As for political CharlesM. Andrews,The ColonialPeriod of Ameri- rights their vision never looked higher than the can History. 4 vols.; Yale Univ., rg34-38' The classic study of colonial development. The subjects in England, and rights of their fellow first three volumes deal with the r 7th century, there was nothing democratic about an En- the last with colonial policy up to 1763. glishman's rights in the eighteenth century. Our Earliest Colonial Settlements: Their Druersities of Origin and Later Characteristics, Andrews,The ColonialPeriod of Ameri- New York Univ., rg33' can History,Yale University,r938. IV, Stresses differences in development of the dif- 423n.-24n. ferent colonies. Carl Bridenbaugh, Cities in the Wilderness' New York. Ronald Press, r938. New York. Knopf, HISTORY LABORATORY r955. : Cities in Reuolt: Urban Life in America, rg5r. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS r743-76. New York. KnoPf, Both books stress tl.re role of the cities in the de- r. Charles N{. Andrews distinguishesbetween velopment of colonial political and intellectual "democracy." "self-government" and Do_you life. L. Starkey, Land Where Our Fathers Died: the two had little to Marion ".".p1 his argument that The Settling of th.e Eastern Shores,r6o7-t735' do with one another? Explain. Perhapsyour New York. DoubledaY,196z, class can develop a working definition of de- Emphasizes difierence among the colonies in their rnocracy against which to measure your an- approach to problems. swers. Democracy in the Colonies Beard, The Riseof Amer- If men have the right to vote but don't use CharlesA. Beard and Mary z. New York. Macmillan of democracy' as ican Ciuilization it, is this evidence of a lack (rqgg) t96r, I, ChaPters2-5. the Beards suggest? Is the operation of a po- 'itt"Te".as see social and political life controlled litical machine ("You can't fight City Hall!") by an aristocracy of wealih, merchints in the evidence of a lack of democracy as Jensen North, and Planters in the South. Democracy and the Perhaps your working definition of Robert E.'Brown, Middle-Class suggests? in Massachusetts,r69r-t78o' Cor- a result of Revolution democracy needs to be modified as nell Univ., 1955, .vour discussion. Claims the balis for political democracy was well establishedin Massachusettsas a result of wide- "It cannot be shown 3. Andrews claims that, spread proPerty-Agrarian ownershiP. ihat the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Irvini Mark, Conficts in Colonial New Orders of ionnecticut, or any of the so-called York, rTtr-r775. ColumbiaUniv', rg4o' r5

15 How DrD DEMocRAcY DEVELoP rN coLoNrAL aurnrce? Shows the domination of New York by a local r 950. landed aristocracy. Good collection of interpretations of the Puritans. Robert A. Rutland, The Birth of the Bill of Rightl Thomas I. Wertenbaker, The Puritan Oligarchy. Univ. of North Carolina, r9r5. New York. Scribner, 1947. Traces the development of the Bill of Rights Attacks Puritans as rigid and undemocratic, con- through the English, colonial and confederation tributing little to the development of the nation. periods. Thomas ]. Wertenbaker, Patrician and Pl.ebeian in Roger Williams (r9ro) 'S. Virginia, New York. Russell r958. H. Brockunier, The lrrepressibl.e Democrat, Roger -, The Planters of Colonial Virginia. New Williams. New York. Ronald, rg4o. (r9zz) York. Russell r958. SeesWilliams as a leader in the development of Sees early Virginia as a middle-class society, in- liberal American democracy. cluding the aristocracy. The independent small Perry Miller, Roger Williams, His Contributions to farmer class was destroyed during the r 8th cen- the Atnerican Tradition. Indianapolis. Bobbs- tury by the slaveiy sYstem. Merrill, r953. New York. Atheneum, 196z. The Puritans Many of Williams' works are presented. Miller warns against seeing Williams as a The Jefrersonian- Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma: style liberal. Story of lohn Winthrop. Toronto. Little, and Co., r9i8. Brown Bacon's Rebellion Defends the Puritan morality and actions. Vernon L. Parrington, Main Cunents in American Wilcomb E. Washburn, The Gwernor and the Rebel. Thought. New York. Harcourt. Brace (rgzZ) Univ. of North Carolina, r958. r958, I, Part I, r-8r. Contends that Bacon was an irresponsible rabble- Seeks the efiect of Puritanism on the minds of rouser; Governor Berkeley a friend of law and the colonists; concludes that Puritanism had lit- order. tle of democracy in it. Thomas ]. Wertenbaker, Torchbearer of the Revo- Ralph Perry, Puritanism and Democracy. New lution. Princeton Univ., rg4o. York. Vanguard, 1944. Sees Bacon's Rebellion as a democratic move- Attempts a balanced picture. Traces a large msnf - a forerunner of the American Revolu- part of American tradition to r 7th century Puri- tion. tanism. -, Virginia Under the Stuarts, New York. George M. Waller (ed.), Puritanisrn in Emly Atner- Russell(rgr+) r9i8. ica. Boston. (Amherst Series) D. C. Heath, Traditional view of Bacon as democratic leader.

REWRITING HISTORY (HTSTORToGRAPHY)

From your textbook reading and research,you should now have a back- ground of the facts of colonial development - the what hrppened part of history. You trave been introduced, in this chapter and through outside read- "raw ings, to some of the primary materials" of history, an_dto some _of thi interpretations by historians - these interpretations deal with the why and how pafi of history. At this point, you should be ready to undertake your own interpreta- tion. Prepare a brief chapter for an imaginary textbook in American "Th. History, otr Roots of Democracy in Colonial America." When you have brought this in to your class, it would be interesting_to_com- pare your interpretation with those of your fellow students who based their chapters on much the same facts and documents.

The fult-pageillustrdtion dt the beginningof tliis unit of Yirginia in 'WiJliamsburg.is a photogtiph of the colonial capitol The smallerillustration of the interior showsthe hall of the House of Burgesses,the oldest representatiye assemblyin the New'World.

r6 rrow DrD DEMocRAcvnnvrroP IN coLoNrALeurnrce? 16