Early Colonial Governments

Which was the first permanent settlement in the new world?

• Roanoke
• Plymouth
• Jamestown
• St. Augustine

What was the real purpose for the colonies?

• To enrich the British
• To build slavery 
• To maintain religious tolerance
• To help poor English settlers

Use the excerpt to answer the question that follows.
 . . . I know that the Colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and
 that they are not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints of watchful and
 suspicious government, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous
 nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection . . . .
—Edmund Burke, “On Moving . . . for Conciliation with the Colonies,” 1775

Edmund Burke was a member of the British Parliament who wanted to avoid war with the American colonists. Which statement would he most likely support? 

• . Great Britain should copy colonial institutions of government.
• The colonies would be better governed directly under British rule.
• Colonists have governed themselves well without British interference.
• Larger colonies should be made smaller to make them easier to govern.

Which of the following statements is a correct description of the Mayflower Compact?

• The men on board the Mayflower bound themselves into a “civic body politic.” 
• The Pilgrims practiced an early and pure form of democracy
• The Mayflower Compact applied just to the non-Pilgrims on board the Mayflower
• None of the above. 

 Why did the Pilgrims create the Mayflower Compact?

•  to show that they opposed representative government.
• to establish an orderly community
•  to reinforce the laws of England in the new colony
•  to guarantee universal religious tolerance in the colony

• A

• B

• C

• D

During American colonization who were the colonies ruled by?

• colonists

• English kings

• the president

What is the House of Burgesses?

• The first legislative assembly of elected representatives in the American colonies.

• The first group of elected representatives to leave the colonies.

• The first house that was built in Jamestown, Virginia.

What was the purpose of a town meeting?

• to hire new colonists for new jobs

• to help solve issues (problems) of the colonists

• to catch up on all of the town gossip

Permission to create a legislative body in the colony of Virginia was granted in the 

• United States Constitution
• Charters from the King of England
• Declaration of Independence
• Ship's log of the Susan Constant