Early colonial government policies helped the British dominate American colonies. Although the American colonies began resisting British rule in the 1770s, the early colonial government policies had been long enough to influence how America governed itself after independence (Hoffer, 2019). However, while under British rule, the American colonies practiced a minimized version of self-governance. American colonies gained the power to resist the British government due to several factors. Most American colonies were at an advantage due to having a coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, most citizens of the American colonies learned skills to control trade. Controlling trade gave the American colonies power and influence to operate outside British law and subsequently fight for independence.
The early colonial government policies influenced some of the American policies present today. The early colonial government policies contained charter agreements between the colonies and England. The king of England ruled over the territories. He had the power to appoint the governors for each of the colonies. Additionally, England controlled trade in the American economies. England prohibited the colonies from trading with other European countries.
The American colonies were required to pay tax to England. The American colonies were diverse in their religion of choice. England allowed religious freedom among the American colonies to concur and subdue more territories. These early colonial government policies ensured that England controlled the American colonies with minimal resistance. As a result, the American colonies incorporated some of the guidelines from the early colonial government into their systems after independence. Some of these policies are in existence today.
First, America borrowed the concept of the Magna Carta from its colonizer to establish the principle of the rule of law that is still applicable today. Magna Carta was an English document first issued in 1215 that stated that no citizen was above the law. The king and his government were not exempted from this rule. The declaration aimed to prevent the abuse of power by the kind and majority officials by stating that the law was a form of power.
The concept of the Magna Carta was applied to the American government system by introducing the rule of law. The rule of law in America dictates that everyone is accountable to the same set of laws (Rao, 2020). America implements this policy today by adhering to the belief that no one is above the law, including the lawmakers, law enforcers, and the people overseeing the law’s implementation, such as judges. The Magna Carta also laid a foundation for subsequent legal concepts such as the criminalization of cruel punishments, jury trials, and taking action against delayed or bought justice.
Secondly, the early colonial government policy on implementing parliament was adopted by independent America and is still present today. The early colonial government parliament system comprised an upper house and a lower house (McGaughey, 2018). The upper house council contained advisory staff to the government appointed by the Crown. The lower house was where citizens were represented by their leader. Every American colony referred to their representative with a different term. Select members in each territory elected the representatives. The two legislative assemblies were responsible for helping the Monarch rule over the colonies by enacting policies for the early colonial government.
The United States developed a legislative assembly from the early colonial government parliament that is still used today. The United States has Congress as the legislative body with a lower and upper body. The lower body belongs to the representatives elected by the people during elections. According to McConarty, C. (2020), the upper body comprises senators elected during elections except for a few presidential nominees. The United States legislative assembly is similar to the early colonial government parliament.
Thirdly, the early colonial government policy in the bill of rights is still used today. The English bill of rights sought to protect its citizens by granting them rights, freedoms, and access. For example, the English bill of rights gave dictated that its citizens had a right to life, liberties, and to own property. The English bill of rights was applicable throughout the American colonies. Therefore, after independence, America enacted its bill of rights in its constitution to protect the freedom and liberties of its citizens. America amended the bill of rights to contain more rights and freedoms for its citizens.
In conclusion, the early colonial government policies influenced America’s government and institutions. There exist policies from the early colonial government that is still in use today. The Magna Carta policy was used to create the rule of law. Additionally, today’s legislative policies and structures emerged from early colonial government policies. They exist a bill of rights in the constitution that resembles the English bill of rights policies used in the early colonial government. From the above illustration, there needs to be more research on the link between current policies and early colonial government policies to understand colonialism’s influence on today’s government.
References
Hoffer, P. C. (2019). Law and people in colonial America. Johns Hopkins University Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WRytDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=early+colonial+government+in+america&ots=eCsrS3PGnT&sig=5LTxC1-XWnKDIzVbHp9qUvNZEwE
Rao, G. (2020). The New Historiography of the Early Federal Government: Institutions, Contexts, and the Imperial State. The William and Mary Quarterly, 77(1), 97-128. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.77.1.0097
McConarty, C. (2020). The Federal Elections Bill of 1890: The Continuation of Reconstruction in America. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 19(3), 390-405. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537781420000067
McGaughey, E. (2018). Democracy in America at work: the history of labor’s vote in corporate governance. Seattle UL Rev., 42, 697. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/sealr42§ion=30
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