Formation of the Union | Page 9

member of the county board of supervisors; in
Pennsylvania the county officers as well as the town officers became
elective. Whatever the variations, the effect of local government
throughout the colonies was the same. The people carried on or
neglected their town and county business under a system defined by
colonial laws; but no colonial officer was charged with the supervision
of local affairs. In all the changes of a century and a half since 1750
these principles of decentralization have been maintained.

7. COLONIAL GOVERNMENT.
[Sidenote: General form.] [Sidenote: Suffrage.]
Earlier than local governments in their development, and always
superior to them in powers, were the colonial governments. In 1750
there was a technical distinction between the charter governments of
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, the proprietary
governments of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and the
provincial governments of the eight other continental colonies. In the
first group there were charters which were substantially written
constitutions binding on both king and colonists, and unalterable except
by mutual consent. In the second group some subject, acting under a
royal charter, appointed the governors, granted the lands, and stood
between the colonists and the Crown. In the third group, precedent and
the governor's instructions were the only constitution. In essence, all
the colonies of all three groups had the same form of government. In
each there was an elective legislature; in each the suffrage was very
limited; everywhere the ownership of land in freehold was a requisite,
just as it was in England, for the county suffrage. In many cases there
was an additional provision that the voter must have a specified large
quantity of land or must pay specified taxes. In some colonies there
was a religious requirement. The land qualification worked very
differently from the same system in England. Any man of vigor and
industry might acquire land; and thus, without altering the letter of the
law to which they were accustomed, the colonial suffrage was
practically enlarged, and the foundations of democracy were laid.
Nevertheless, the number of voters at that time was not more than a
fifth to an eighth as large in proportion to the population as at present.
In Connecticut in 1775 among 200,000 people there were but 4,325
voters. In 1890, the fourth Connecticut district, having about the same
population, cast a vote of 36,500.
[Sidenote: Legislature.]
The participation of the people in their own government was the more
significant, because the colonies actually had what England only
seemed to have,--three departments of government. The legislative

branch was composed in almost all cases of two houses; the lower
house was elective, and by its control over money bills it frequently
forced the passage of measures unacceptable to the co-ordinate house.
This latter, except in a few cases, was a small body appointed by the
governor, and had the functions of the executive council as well as of
an upper house. The governor was a third part of the legislature in so
far as he chose to exercise his veto power. The only other limitation on
the legislative power of the assemblies was the general proviso that no
act "was to be contrary to the law of England, but agreeable thereto."
[Sidenote: Executive.]
The governor was the head of the executive department,--sometimes a
native of the colony, as Hutchinson of Massachusetts, and Clinton of
New York. But he was often sent from over seas, as Cornbury of New
York, and Dunmore of Virginia. In Connecticut and Rhode Island the
legislatures chose the governor; but they fell in with the prevailing
practice by frequently re- electing men for a succession of years. The
governor's chief power was that of appointment, although the
assemblies strove to deprive him of it by electing treasurers and other
executive officers. He had also the prestige of his little court, and was
able to form at least a small party of adherents. As a representative of
the home government he was the object of suspicion and defiance. As
the receiver and dispenser of annoying fees, he was likely to be
unpopular; and wherever it could do so, the assembly made him feel his
dependence upon it for his salary.
[Sidenote: Judiciary.]
Colonial courts were nearly out of the reach of the assemblies, except
that their salaries might be reduced or withheld. The judges were
appointed by the governor, held during good behavior, and were
reasonably independent both of royal interference and of popular
clamor. The governor's council was commonly the highest court in the
colony; hence the question of the constitutionality of an act was seldom
raised: since the council could defeat the bill by voting against it, it was
seldom necessary to quash it by judicial process. Legal fees were high,
and the courts were the most unpopular part of the governments.

8. ENGLISH