Wednesday, November 17, 2010

From the earliest times American Colonists believed in Freedom and Democracy. True or False? Explain.

The answer is essentially yes, but with caveats. Democracy, by which in this case I mean the electorate voting a representative parliament, was and had been for a long time the practice in England.  The earliest British settlers in the New World were not Puritans but adventurers looking for land, their fortunes and a new life away from the strictures of life in Britain.  These people founded Roanoke and Jamestown, the Puritans came some 14 years later.  The earliest settlers certainly were looking for freedom from the rigid social structure of Great Britain, and obviously believed in democracy as can be seen from their various documents.  Of course, they were somewhat restricted in their status as de facto employees of the trading company which financed the settlement.


The Puritans had a more complex situation.  Non-members of the Anglican Church were forbidden to hold office in Britain, but since the settlers of Massachusetts were not Anglican the Crown was allowing them to function in their colony as if that restriction did not exist.  They certainly sought freedom for themselves in their new home, and established a democratic colonial government.  They did, however, intend their particular colony for themselves and not other religious groups.  They could not exclude Anglicans, but they did exclude Quakers as time went by.  So the answer is yes, the earliest settlers believed in freedom and democracy, but perhaps not entirely in the way Americans view these terms today.

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