Democracy In the Colonies
Democracy existed in the colonies in the New World even at the very beginning. However some colonies were more democratic than others. The major ideas of democracy like freedom of religion, speech, free market and human rights came to the New World with the first colonists, the Puritans. They came to the Americas looking for freedom and they found it. British America however, was much more democratic in all of its aspects than Spanish America. Politically the English form of government in the Americas followed the democratic ideas much better than the Spanish government in its colonies in the New World. First of all the English colonies didn't have an absolute like the Spanish colonies did. The English had an appointed British governor, but most places held town meetings and that's how they solved their issues. Everyone had a vote in the decisions they made.The Spanish government was headed by an abosolute. The church also had a big control over the people, the church and the state were basically one. That defies all democratic ideas. In British America the women had some rights, much more than in other colonies. Unlike the English, in the Spani
The most Democratic aspect of British America is the social. First of all the minorities in British America were treated much better than in Spanish America. At the beginning the colonists were friendly with the Natives and lived in peace for long time. Even after that some religous groups like the Quakers treated the Natives like their equals. Unlike them, the Spaniards killed and tortured the Natives in most cruel ways. In British America Natives, minorities and women could inherit property. This goes back to the democratic concept of human rights. In Spanish America only the Spanish born people had power and prestige. That separation of people is racist and opposes the democratic idea of equality. That is why the English colonies were much more democratic than the Spanish in all social aspects. Thomas Baily, in The American Pageant states his opinion on democracy in the colonies. He says that in the English colonies county government remained the rule in the plantation South, town-meeting government predominated in New England and a modification of the two developed in the middle colonies. In the town meeting, with its open discussion and open voting, direct democracy f
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Approximate Word count = 797
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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