2. Chapter Introduction
Section 1: Our English
Heritage
Section 2: The English
Colonies
Section 3: Colonial Society
Section 4: Birth of a
Democratic
Nation
Visual Summary
3. The American colonies were
settled by individuals from
many nations. Nonetheless,
the majority of American
settlers came from England.
Many of the rights that
American citizens enjoy can
be traced to the political and
legal traditions of England.
When English people began
settling in the Americas, they
brought with them a tradition
of limited and representative
government.
4. Section 1:
Our English Heritage
Political and economic
institutions evolve to help
individuals and groups
accomplish their goals. The
English colonists brought with
them ideas about government
that had been developing in
England for centuries.
5. Section 2:
The English Colonies
Political, social, religious,
and economic changes
influence the way
Americans think and act.
The English established
thirteen colonies along the
East Coast of North America.
6. Section 3:
Colonial Society
Political, social, religious,
and economic changes
influence the way
Americans think and act.
The English colonists created
a prosperous economy and
learned to govern
themselves.
7. Section 4:
Birth of a Democratic
Nation
Political principles and
major events shape how
people form governments.
The Declaration of
Independence explained why
the colonies were founding a
new nation.
8. Guide to Reading
Big Idea
Political and economic institutions
evolve to help individuals and groups
accomplish their goals.
9. Guide to Reading
Content Vocabulary
• Enlightenment • social contract
• monarch • colony
• legislature • joint-stock
company
• precedent
• charter
• common law
• compact
• natural rights
11. What Influenced Colonial
Government?
Science and the influence of reason led
to new innovations in political thought.
12. What Influenced Colonial Government?
(cont.)
• Many rights that American citizens enjoy
can be traced to England and to the
Enlightenment.
• English ruled by monarchs
13. What Influenced Colonial Government?
(cont.)
• The Magna Carta:
– Protection for nobles
– Certain rights for all landholders
– Limited power for monarchs
Sources of American Law
14. What Influenced Colonial Government?
(cont.)
• Parliament:
– Legislature
– The Glorious Revolution
– The English Bill of Rights
• Common law:
– Precedent as the basis of a body of law
– Common law based on court decisions
15. What Influenced Colonial Government?
(cont.)
• John Locke:
– Argued that people had natural rights
– Life, Liberty, Property
– Believed in a social contract among
people in a society
• Baron de Montesquieu’s ideas on the
separation of powers
• Enlightenment ideas about natural laws
16. Colonial Traditions of Self-Government
The American colonists accepted the
idea of representative government.
17. Colonial Traditions of Self-Government
(cont.)
• England established colonies in America
in the 1600s and 1700s.
• Jamestown:
– Joint-stock company
– Authority to set up colonial governments
– Formation of the House of Burgesses
18. Colonial Traditions of Self-Government
(cont.)
• Plymouth:
– The Mayflower Compact
– Town meetings
• The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
was America’s first written constitution.
19. Colonial Traditions of Self-Government
(cont.)
• Governments of the thirteen colonies:
– Governors elected by colonists or
appointed by the English king
– Legislature representatives elected by
free adult males
• Increased power and responsibility of
colonial governments
20. Guide to Reading
Big Idea
Political, social, religious, and
economic changes influence the way
Americans think and act.
21. Guide to Reading
Content Vocabulary
• proprietary • toleration
colony
• indentured
• royal colony servant
• religious • plantation
dissenters
• triangular trade
• Puritans
• Pilgrims
23. Settling the Colonies
The English established thirteen
colonies along the East Coast of North
America.
24. Settling the Colonies (cont.)
• England established thirteen colonies
along the East Coast of North America.
• New England Colonies:
– Massachusetts and the Massachusetts
Bay Company
– Connecticut, Rhode Island and New
Hampshire established by the mid-1600s
25. Settling the Colonies (cont.)
• The Middle Colonies:
– New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and Delaware
– New Netherland
– New York as a proprietary colony
– New Jersey as a royal colony
– William Penn and Pennsylvania and
Delaware
26. Settling the Colonies (cont.)
• Southern Colonies:
– Virginia as a joint-stock colony
– North and South Carolina
– James Oglethorpe and Georgia
The English Colonies
27. People of the Colonies
Throughout the colonies, people
adapted their traditions to the new
conditions of life in America.
28. People of the Colonies (cont.)
• English colonists immigrated to the
thirteen colonies for different reasons.
• Religion:
– Religious dissenters
– Puritans and Pilgrims
– Religious toleration
– Quakers and Catholics
29. People of the Colonies (cont.)
• Economic reasons for immigration
• System of indentured servants
• Conflicts with Native Americans over land
Dominant Immigrant Groups in the Colonies
30. People of the Colonies (cont.)
• Slavery:
– Plantation system
– Enslaved Africans
– Triangular trade
– The Middle Passage
31. Guide to Reading
Big Idea
Political, social, religious, and
economic changes influence the way
Americans think and act.
33. The Economy
The people in the colonies developed
different ways of living.
34. The Economy (cont.)
• Colonists in different regions had to adapt
to the geography.
• New England:
– Small farms
– Small businesses
– Forests and shipbuilding
– Fishing and whaling
– The Puritan ethic (honesty, thriftiness,
obedience)
35. The Economy (cont.)
• The Middle Colonies:
– Agriculture and cash crops
– Busy ports
– New York, Philadelphia
– Industries
– Immigrants from European countries
American Economy
36. The Economy (cont.)
• The Southern Colonies:
– Large-scale agriculture
– Encouraged by warm climate, long growing
season, and rich soil
– Tidewater crops—Tobacco and rice
– River transport
– Plantations and enslaved African workers
– Smaller farms
– Lack of industry and commerce
37. An American Identity
The colonies continued to grow and
developed their own culture and
beliefs.
38. An American Identity (cont.)
• Colonists eventually developed an
American identity.
• Religion:
– Religious freedom
– Religious leaders were sometimes leaders of
the government.
– Religious tolerance
– The Great Awakening
– Expressed a personal religious experience
39. An American Identity (cont.)
• Education:
– America’s first schools and colleges
– Many founded for the purpose of
training ministers
– Schools were founded to teach kids
to read the Bible
– Slave codes
40. An American Identity (cont.)
• The family as the foundation of colonial
society
• Only men could vote and hold
government and church positions
• The spirit of egalitarianism:
– The ideas of John Locke
– Many colonists believed that Britain did not
uphold the “social contract”
– No representation in Parliament
– British taxes were high
41. Guide to Reading
Big Idea
Political principles and major events
shape how people form
governments.
43. Colonial Resistance
The American colonists began to fight
against British control.
44. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• The American colonists had experience in
self-government.
• Salutary neglect as a policy of loose
control by the British
• The colonies were 3,000 across the
Atlantic Ocean
• Did not insist on strict enforcement of
British laws
• As long as Britain was making $
45. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• The theory of mercantilism:
– Country’s power depends on its wealth
– A favorable balance of trade
– The colonies as a source of cheap, raw
materials
– The Navigation Acts, early 1660s
– Ensured a favorable balance of trade by
requiring that requiring that all goods from
the colonies go directly to Britain
46. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• Fighting between the British and the
French in North America
• The Albany Plan:
– Plan for federal union
– Proposed by Benjamin Franklin
– Rejected, but 1st attempt at union in the
colonies
47. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• The French and Indian War:
– Cost the British government a lot of $
– Reaction:
– The Proclamation of 1763
– The Stamp Act of 1765
– The Quartering Act
48. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• Boycott of British goods by the colonists
• Opposition to the Stamp Act by the Sons
of Liberty
• The Stamp Act Congress, 1765:
– Declaration of rights and grievances
against British actions
– The Stamp Act repealed by Parliament
49. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• The Declaratory Act of 1766 giving
Parliament the right to tax and make
decisions for the colonists
• The Townshend Acts:
– New taxes on imports
– Writs of assistance
– Boycotts and destruction of property
– The Boston Massacre
50. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• The Tea Act:
– East India Company given the right to
ship tea to the colonies without paying
most of the taxes usually placed on tea
– Unfair advantage over colonial
merchants
– The Boston Tea Party as protest to the
Tea Act
51. Colonial Resistance (cont.)
• BRITISH REACTION TO THE BOSTON
TEA PARTY:
• The Intolerable Acts restricting civil
rights of colonists
• Including right to trial by jury
53. Moving Toward Independence (cont.)
• The colonists began to challenge British
control.
• The First Continental Congress, 1774:
– Delegates sent from 12 colonies
– Restoration of rights of the colonists
– Extension of boycott of British goods
54. Moving Toward Independence (cont.)
• The Battles of Lexington and Concord as
the start of the Revolutionary War
• Until this time, most colonists
considered themselves loyal to Britain
• After seeing British soldiers shoot
Americans, many began to question
their loyalty to Britain
• The Second Continental Congress, 1775,
and debate over independence
55. Moving Toward Independence (cont.)
• Common Sense by Thomas Paine:
– Inspired many colonists
– Called for complete independence from
Britain
56. The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence used
traditional English political rights to
call for independence for the colonies.
57. The Declaration of Independence (cont.)
• The Declaration of Independence:
– British government did not look after
colonial interests
– King George III a tyrant
– Rights of individuals
– Purpose of the government to protect
rights
58. The Declaration of Independence (cont.)
– Government based on the consent of
the people
– People entitled to overthrow a
government if it disregards rights
– Influence of John Locke
– Written by Thomas Jefferson
– Approved on July 4, 1776
83. charter
a written document granting land and
the authority to set up colonial
governments; or a government
document granting permission to
organize a corporation
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