New England." The charter provided for four general meetings of the freemen in all the towns each year. The freemen were to elect a governor, a deputy governor, and a council of eighteen assistants, to manage the affairs of the colony. The townships or congregations increased so rapidly in number, however, that general meetings of all the freemen soon became impracticable. Therefore, a plan was devised by which each town sent two representatives, called deputies, to what was called the "General Court." This General Court made laws for the united townships in all matters pertaining to the general welfare, but in all local matters each township was permitted to administer its own affairs. Thus for the state was established a representative government.

The people engaged in farming, fishing, shipbuilding, and commerce. They were industrious, thrifty, sober-minded, God-fearing men and women. The rigorous climate and the barren soil compelled diligent effort to gain a living, and there grew up a community without such insurmountable class distinction as existed in those colonies where, owing to the mild climate and the luxuriant soil, cheap labor was ever in demand.

Government in

Virginia.

The early settlers in Virginia came solely for the Local purpose of trade, and, unlike the settlers in New England, they came not as congregations, but as individuals. The soil of Virginia was found to be peculiarly adapted to the raising of tobacco, and, since this product was especially profitable, the

settlers devoted themselves to its culture. As the crops soon impoverished the soil, it became necessary to clear and cultivate large tracts of land. The necessity of preparing and cultivating the land led to a demand for cheap labor, which was met by the importation of negroes from Africa, the bringing of a large number of indentured servants from England, and the kidnapping of many persons from English seaports. The plantations were established along the many broad, navigable rivers, and each plantation became a little community in itself, often embracing an area greater than that of a New England township, frequently shipping its annual crop of tobacco directly from its own wharf to England, and importing from England on the return voyage the various supplies needed for the next year. There were but few roads in the colony. Communication between the plantations was generally by means of bridle paths through the woods, and by boats manned by slaves on the many rivers. This plantation method of settlement naturally tended to isolation, and we find no towns as in New England. Labor was considered dishonorable and degrading, and there soon sprang up three distinct social classes. First came the wealthy, proud, and aristocratic plantation owners, who looked with contempt on all engaged in manual labor. Second came the blacks, who tilled the soil under the direction of their masters, and were little respected by all the whites. Then there was a third class, composed of indentured servants and kidnapped persons, who,

when their term of service ended, were too proud to work in the fields with the negroes, and too poor, shiftless, or inexperienced in most cases to acquire plantations of their own. These people had no social standing, and formed a class by themselves known as "poor whites." The social standards which separated the plantation owners from the other classes naturally gave an opportunity for the upper class to assume control of the government of the colony. The settlers brought with them a knowledge of the forms and customs of the Established Church of England, and they based their government upon that of the church parish. Several plantations grouped together supported a church; and, as it was inconvenient for the people to meet together as they did in the New England towns, the management of local affairs was gradually intrusted to the vestrymen of the church. At first the people chose the vestrymen, but after a while they allowed the vestrymen to fill vacancies in their number, so that the people had little to do with local government. As the plantations increased in size and number, the colony was divided into eleven boroughs or counties, the borough usually consisting of several parishes. The people in each borough annually chose two representatives called burgesses, who met in a general assembly called the House of Burgesses, to transact all business for the colony as a whole. This House of Burgesses, which first met in 1619, was the first legislative body ever convened in America.

The Unit of Political Representation in Massachusetts

and in

Thus, we see that, while the unit of political representation in the colonial assembly was the town in Massachusetts, it was the county in Virginia. The New England town system and the Virginia county system of government are illustrative of two widely different forms of government, and the Virginia. development of each was a natural outgrowth of the method of settlement; and the method of settlement in each case was a natural outgrowth of the way in which each colony came to America, and of the adaptation of the climate and soil of each section to the raising of certain products.

Local
Govern-

ment
in the
Other
Colonies.

The other colonies established along the Atlantic seaboard developed forms of government which partook of the nature of both the town and the county systems, that particular form predominating which seemed best fitted to local conditions.

General

Plan of
Colonial
Govern-
ment.

THE THREE FORMS OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT

The colonial governments were in the main copies of the English government. In England there was a King and a Parliament consisting of an upper branch, known as the House of Lords, and of a lower branch, known as the House of Commons. In the colonies we find a governor and a legislature, or assembly, consisting of an upper and a lower body. The duty of the legislature was to make the laws, while the duty of the governor was to see that the laws were enforced. In all the colonies the governor had an absolute veto power over the

acts of the legislature, and no colony could pass any law contrary to the laws of England. At first the legislature or assembly consisted of but a single body. In all the colonies, however, the governor was assisted in the performance of his duties by a council, or board of assistants, consisting usually of twelve or eighteen members, who were chosen in the same manner as the governor was chosen. In its capacity as a board of advisers to the governor, the council practically constituted an upper branch of the legislature, since all measures passed by the legislature were discussed by the council before being acted upon by the governor. The council gradually developed into the upper branch of the legislature. The council also frequently exercised judicial functions, being substantially a court of last resort in all colonial disputes. The colonial governments thus really consisted of a governor and a legislature composed of an upper and a lower body.

Colonial

While the general plan of government was as Three thus stated, yet we find three distinctive forms of Forms of government in the colonies-charter, proprietary, Governand royal.

ment.

Charter

To some of the settlers the king gave a charter specifying the powers granted to the colonists and Governthe powers reserved to the crown. These charters, ment. which could be legally changed only by mutual consent of the king and the colonists, were carefully preserved by the colonists as evidences of their rights. Under this form of government the people elected the governor and both branches of the leg