By the Mid eighteenth century, the economic and social mobility of the North American colonies differed greatly from that of Britain. Since in the colonies a person's social status was not determined by birth, but by wealth and property, colonists were eager to make money and to own a piece of land, and with the abundant land in the New World, it was not hard for the colonists to climb the social ladder. In fact it was determined by Jackson Turner Main, that only thirty percent of those living in the colonies, this included slaves and indentured servants, did not own property. With the mercantile system, an economic system in which the colonies produced raw materials

The ways of the colonists drifted apart from those of the British, despite the British influence at the foundation of political development. Since the colonials were so far away from their mother country they did not realize that over time they had changed, they also did not realize that Britain had also changed since the colonies had first been founded. Even the meanings of words had changed. "The Americans were saying different things when they employed the same words." Page 64. For example to those in England the word constitution meant the whole body of law and custom from the beginning of the kingdom, but to the colonists a constitution was a written document that clarified specific powers. This was because the colonial governments had been founded by written charters granted by the crown. The colonists often referred back to these charters when problems arose within the colonies. The colonists also were not aware that in England the ministers of the executive branch of government were chosen from Parliament, therefore there really was no separation of powers, both the executive and legislative branches were of the same body. It was impossible for this to take place in the colonies, since the royal governors could not be replaced by a cabinet or council, and the colonists remained convinced that the king was the real executive, like their own governors were to them. Salutary neglect also played in important role in the in the colonies political philosophy and practice. It pr

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Approximate Word count = 1008
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)