Colonial Politics In The 1700s

Colonial politics consisted of assemblies, the right to vote, and the combination of liberalism and republicanism. Assemblies in the colonies during the eighteenth century were expected to have the “same rights and powers in local affairs as the House of Commons” (Foner, 155) which explains how effective and powerful assemblies came to be in the 1700’s. Colonial assemblies included elites and other men who had to have enough land, authority, or money to get elected. The right to vote was given mostly to “men who possessed an economic stake” (Foner, 152); therefore, wealthy men were in charge of voting for which people and rules would guide their colonies. Liberalism and republicanism, both English ideas of freedom and liberty based on the security