Essay Topic: “From The Beginning, The English Colonies Had Democratic Characteristics.” Student by (Name)
Topic: “From The Beginning, The English Colonies Had Democratic Characteristics.” Introduction The English colonies such as Virginia and Massachusetts had democratic characteristics from the beginning. Virginia and Massachusetts were the first colonies to be formed under the English rule. The English had 13 colonies in America, and each over the thirteen colonies practised democracy differently. Even though Britain practised a monarchical government at the time of colonisation, the colonial states practised democracy. Virginia House of Burgesses had almost complete democracy to that of the current United States of America. The democratic practice was also evident in Virginia Massachusetts where there was the rule of assembly and majority rule. The content of this paper based on historical evidence of Virginia and Massachusetts validates the statement which claims that “from the beginning, the English colonies had democratic characteristics.” The English colonies had democratic characteristics where each of the 13 colonies before the revolution practised varieties of democracy. According to historians, the current democratic system of government originated from the colonial states. Even though the English did not practice democracy, it existed from the first colonies the Plymouth and Jamestown known as Virginia and Massachusetts respectively1. Even though democratic practices then were different from the current democracy based on limited suffrage, slave trade and varying levels of freedom, they had democratic characteristics. 1De Tocqueville, Alexis.Democracy in america. Vol. 10. Regnery Publishing, 2013.
Virginia which was the first English colony practised democracy where the people of the colony were represented by the legislature. The colony had the first democratic model known as the Jamestown compact model. The colonial state of Virginia held the primary election ever and elected the house of representative called the House of Burgesses. The house of Burgess was also called the house of representatives of assembly2. Just as in the current democratic practices the members of the assembly were elected after a given period. The election was held on a yearly basis by propertied citizens. The election held in the English colonies such as Virginia to elect members of the assembly indicates the existence of democracy in the then colonies. However, Virginia was still under the king of England who appointed the governor of Virginia. The governor had powers to reconvene assembly session as well as close the assembly a role which has been given to the speaker of the house in the current democracy but not to the president nor the state governors. The same case was evident in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but the practice was more advanced compared to Virginia. The democracy of representatives increased and improved with the arrival of the Pilgrims at the Plymouth (Massachusetts) located at the northern part of Virginia3. Since the pilgrims were freemen out of the royal authorities purview, these Pilgrims came up with more democratic and stronger self-government under a democratic model which was known as Mayflower compact. The sense of democracy in Plymouth was a fully democratic state with both the governors and councils elected by the members of the colony. However, the 2De Tocqueville, Alexis.Democracy in america. Vol. 10. Regnery Publishing, 2013. 3Kammen, Michael G.Politics and society in colonial America: democracy or deference?. Krieger Publishing Company, 2008.
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