Topic of Discussion – Early Representative Governments

Discussion 3-2 US History ~ Chapter 3 Topic Discussions E Lundberg Topic of Discussion – Early Representative Governments

Related Topics Chapter Information ~ Ch 3; 4 sections; 29 pages Great Indian Law of the Iroquois The English Establish 13 Colonies (1585-1732) Section 1 ~ Early Colonies Have Mixed Success Pages 60-65 The Magna Carta Section 2 ~ New England Colonies Pages 66-75 English Colonial Government Section 3 ~ The Southern Colonies Pages 76-81 Section 4 ~ The Middle Colonies Pages 82-85 The Enlightment

Key Ideas Key Connections - 10 Major (Common) Themes 1. How cultures change through the blending of different ethnic groups. 2. Taking the land. What influences did the English government have 3. The individual versus the state. 4. The quest for equity - slavery and it’s end, women’s suffrage etc. the colonists form of representative government? 5. Sectionalism. 6. Immigration and Americanization. What influence did the Native Americans have in 7. The change in social class. 8. Technology developments and the environment. the colonists form of representative government? 9. Relations with other nations. 10. Historiography, how we know things.

Talking Points I Introduction

As defined a colony is a group of people who leave their native country to form a community in a new land.

The harsh reality is, there are many realities that need to be worked out prior to people leaving their homeland:

A. Shelter

B. Food source

C. Protection

“Who” is going to do “what” in the community? Who is management and who is the work force?

So the issue at hand is, how does the community get along? There has to be some set of rules or guidelines to follow. People have to agree and follow through the established rules or agreements or they will not survive!

A. This is what we are going to look at:

B. What type of rules or government did the colonists come from, what were they use to

C. What type of agreements, rules or self-government was established with the colonies?

D. What type of government were the Native Americans using which might have an influence on the colonists as an example?

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Why was a representative form of government so Mercantilism - www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W4e_rN15xA crucial to the early colonists? Gayanashagowa - www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIWpKdfDW8E How much influence did Iroquois tribes form of Mayflower Compact - www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9GU1sd6I28 government have with the colonists? Discussion 3-2 US History ~ Chapter 3 Topic Discussions E Lundberg Topic of Discussion – Early Representative Governments

Talking Points

II English Governments

Monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty is actually embodied in a single individual (the King or Queen).

A Monarchy form of government was the most common into the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Where it exists, it now often takes the form of constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises limited or no political power pursuant to a constitution or tradition which allocates governing authority elsewhere

The Magna Carta The Magna Carta was a document signed by King John in 1215. The Magna Carta established clauses that provided protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and parliamentary permission for taxation.

This clause limits the power of rulers, and introduces the idea of lawful process and the idea of a jury. The main points of the document are:

A. No-one is above the law, even the king.

B. Right to a fair trial.

C. People who are taxed should have some kind of representation.

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Church authority

In the 16th century, religious life was an important part of the cement which held society together and formed an important basis for extending and consolidating political power. Differences in religion were likely to lead to civil unrest.

Keep in mind that there was also a significant amount of religious unrest. There was the Catholic Church which was led by the Pope was at odds with the Church of England. The Reformation, which was initiated by Martin Luther was in full. It was also during this time that there was a disagreement (regarding a marriage annulment of a King) that led to the separation of the Catholic Church and eth Church of England III Colonial Governments

Charter Colonies Charter colonies came the closest to being self-governing. When created, the British King granted the colonies a charter es- tablishing the rules of government, but he allowed the colonists a great amount of latitude within those rules. Rhode Island and Connecticut were both charter colonies from their founding until the American Revolution. The Massachusetts Bay Colo- ny was originally charter colony but lost its charter in 1684, and in 1691, was divided between the Plymouth Colony and Maine.

Proprietary

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A proprietary colony was similar to a fiefdom. In these colonies, an individual or group essentially owned the colony, control- ling all of the actions and institutions of government. Most of the British colonies in North America---including Virginia, Geor- gia, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Delaware---were of this type for at least part of their existence. Pennsylvania, in fact, still takes its name from its first proprietary governor, William Penn.

Royal Colonies A Royal colony was one that was directly controlled by the Crown. The governments were appointed by the Crown, and car- ried out the orders and wishes of the Crown, not private or local interests (except, of course, with the consent of the Monar- chy.) For all or part of the colonial period, the Carolinas, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York were Royal colonies.

Mercantilism Mercantilism stipulates that in order to build economic strength, a nation must export more than it imports. To achieve this favorable balance of trade, the English passed regulatory laws exclusively benefiting the British economy. These laws created a trade system whereby Americans provided raw goods to Britain, and Britain used the raw goods to produce manufactured goods that were sold in European markets and back to the colonies.

Virginia House of Burgesses During the 1610s, the small English colony at Jamestown was essentially a failure. Fearful of losing their investment, the

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Talking Points officers of the Virginia Company of London embarked upon a series of reforms designed to attract more people to the trou- bled settlement. They began by ending the company monopoly on land ownership, believing that the colonists would display greater initiative if they had an ownership position in the venture. Company officials also made justice in Virginia more pre- dictable by adopting English common law as the basis of their system, which replaced the whims of the governor as the final voice on legal matters. In July 1619, a meeting of the House of Burgesses was held in Jamestown, the first such assembly in the Americas.

Mayflower Compact In basic terms, the Mayflower Compact was a social contract whereby the forty-one men who signed it agreed to abide by the new government's laws in exchange for shared protection. The fact that it was a covenant whereby the settlers would subordinate their rights to follow laws passed by the government to ensure protection and survival made it a unique document. As previously stated, it set a precedent and was indeed an influential document for the founding fathers as they created the US Constitution. IV Indian Government

Cahokia The Aztec government had the vast majority of its territories or states governed by the local authority whom would be given a great amount of autonomy to govern as they pleased so long as the tributes continued to come. These regional or local

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Talking Points rulers served the empire's king. The king was a dynastic leader whose power came through their birth right much the same as European empires. Upon the conquering of new lands or territories the king had little to do with the day to day governing of the people.

League of Nations (Great Indian) Law Each of the five great Iroquois Nations banded together to form the League of Nations. There were many woodland Indians who spoke the same language. They believed in the same gods. They had many similar customs. They believed in coopera- tion.

Central Government: The Iroquois Indians had a unique form of representative central government. It was called the League of Nations..

Written Constitution: The League had a written constitution, a set of rights and agreements that all the people had to hon- or.

Council: The League had a Council. Each Iroquois Nation had a set number of seats on the Council. The decisions of the Council were binding on every person in all Iroquois Nations.

Primary Purpose: The League's primary purpose was the Great Law of Peace. This law said that the Iroquois should not kill each other.

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Debates: The League did not try to create rules for each tribe and village. That was the job of local government or regional government - the village council and the tribal councils. Only major issues were debated on the floor of the League of Na- tions.

Council speakers were eloquent and persuasive. Some members of the council were selected not because they were great warriors, but because they were great speakers.

Votes: There were groups inside the League that acted a great deal like today's political parties

Unanimous Decisions: If there was a weakness to this system, it was that all decisions had to be unanimous. By the 1600's, the Iroquois knew it was essential to present a united front to the colonists. Debates, although heated, nearly always led to a unanimous decision. The Nations stood together, and that made them strong.

To better analyze the similarities and differences between the Great Law of Peace and the U.S. Constitution, a project began in 1980 to organize the two documents in two columns showing the parallel passages side by side. The comparison clearly illustrated similarities and differences in the two founding documents. In 1987, the evidence was submitted as testimony before U.S. Senate hearings on the origins of the Constitution. For the first time in history, Congress officially recognized that the U.S. government was "explicitly modeled" after the Iroquois Confederacy (Congressional Record, 1987).

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