CHAPTER VI.. The State.

THE STATE.

Section 1. The Colonial Governments.

To this group some writers add Maryland, founded in 1632, because its territory had been claimed by the London Company; but the earliest settlements in Maryland, its principal towns, and almost the whole of its territory, come north of latitude 38° and within the middle zone.

As we have already observed, the westward movement of population in the United States has largely followed the parallels of latitude, and thus the characteristics of these three original strips or zones have, with more or less modification, extended westward. The men of New England, with their Portland and Salem reproduced more than 3000 miles distant in the state of Oregon, and within 100 miles of the Pacific Ocean, may be said in a certain sense to have realized literally the substance of King James's grant to the Plymouth Company. It will be noticed that the kinds of local government described in our earlier chapters are characteristic respectively of the three original zones: the township system being exemplified chiefly in the northern zone, the county system in the southern zone, and the mixed township-county system in the central zone.

Whether this transfer of the charter was legally justifiable or not is a question which has been much debated, but with which we need not here vex ourselves. The lawyers of the Company were shrewd enough to know that a loosely-drawn instrument may be made to admit of great liberty of action. Under the guise of a mere trading corporation the Puritan leaders deliberately intended to found a civil commonwealth in accordance with their own theories of government.

It is worthy of note that the governing body thus constituted was at once a legislative and a judicial body, like the English county court which served as its model. Inferior courts were organized at an early date in Massachusetts, but the highest judicial tribunal was the legislature, which was known as the General Court. It still bears this name to-day, though it long ago ceased to exercise judicial functions.

We thus observe two kinds of state government in the American colonies. In both kinds the people choose a representative legislative assembly; but in the one kind they also choose their governor, while in the other kind the governor is appointed by the crown. We have now to observe a third kind.

In one respect, however, the Americans did admit that parliament had a general right of supervision over all parts of the British empire. Maritime commerce seemed to be as much the affair of one part of the empire as another, and it seemed right that it should be regulated by the central parliament at Westminster. Accordingly the Americans did not resist custom-house taxes as long as they seemed to be imposed for purely commercial purposes; but they were quick to resist direct taxation, and custom-house taxes likewise, as soon as these began to form a part of schemes for extending the authority of parliament over the colonies.

In England, on the other hand, this theory that the Americans were subject to the king's authority but not to that of parliament naturally became unintelligible after the king himself had become virtually subject to parliament. The Stuart kings might call themselves kings by the grace of God, but since 1688 the sovereigns of Great Britain owe their seat upon the throne to an act of parliament.

To suppose that the king's American subjects were not amenable to the authority of parliament seemed like supposing that a stream could rise higher than its source. Besides, after 1700 the British empire began to expand in all parts of the world, and the business of parliament became more and more imperial. It could make laws for the East India Company; why not, then, for the Company of Massachusetts Bay?

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT.

1. Various claims to North America:--

a. Spanish. b. English. c. French.

2. What was needed to make such claims of any value?

3. The London and Plymouth companies:--

a. The time and purpose of their organization. b. The grant to the London Company. c. The grant to the Plymouth Company. d. The magnitude of the zones granted. e. The peculiar provisions for the intermediate zone. f. First attempts at settlement.

4. To what important principle of the common charter of these two companies did the colonists persistently cling?

5. The influence of these short-lived companies upon the settlement and government of the United States:--

a. A review of the zones and their assignment. b. The states of the northern zone and their origin. c. The states of the southern zone and their origin. d. The states of the middle zone and their origin. e. The influence of the movement of population on local government in each zone.

6. Early state government in Virginia:--

a. The part appointed and the part elected. b. The first legislative body in America. c. The dignity of its members. d. The reason for the name "House of Burgesses."

7. Early state government in Massachusetts:--

a. The Dorchester Company. b. The government provided for the Company of Massachusetts Bay by its charter. c. The real purpose of the Puritan leaders. d. The change from the primary assembly of freemen to the representative assembly. e. The division of this assembly into two houses, with a comparison of the houses. f. The reason for the name "General Court." g. The loss of the charter and the causes that led to it. h. The new charter as compared with the old.

8. Compare the early governments of Connecticut and Rhode Island with the first government of Massachusetts.

9. What two kinds of state government have thus far been observed?

10. Early state government in Maryland:--

a. The favouritism of the crown as shown in land grants. b. The palatine counties of England. c. The bishopric of Durham the model of the colony of Maryland. d. The extraordinary privileges granted Lord Baltimore. e. The tribute to be paid in return. f. The ruler a feudal long. g. Limitations of the ruler's power.

11. Early state government in Pennsylvania and Delaware:--

a. The powers of Penn as compared with those of Calvert. b. One governor and council, c. The legislature of each colony. d. The quarrels of the Penns and Calverts. e. Mason and Dixon's line.

12. What other proprietary governments were organized, and what was their fate?

13. Why were proprietary governments unpopular? (Note the exceptions, however.)

14. Classify and define the forms of colonial government in existence at the beginning of the Revolution.

15. Show that these forms differed chiefly in respect to the governor's office.

16. A representative assembly in each of the thirteen colonies:--

a. The basis of representation. b. The control of the public money. c. The spontaneousness of the representative assembly.

17. The governor's council:--

a. The custom in England. b. The council as an upper house. c. The council in Pennsylvania.

18. Compare the colonial systems with the British (1) in organization and (2) in the nature of their political quarrels.

19. What was the American theory of the relation of each colony to the British parliament?

20. What was the American attitude towards maritime regulations?

21. What was the British theory of the relation of the American colonies to parliament?

22. How was the Revolutionary War brought on?

23. Describe the last act of parliament that brought matters to a crisis.