Differences In The Ways The English And The Spanish Governed
Differences In The Ways The English And The Spanish Governed Their Colonies
That government is best which governs least,” said Henry Thoreau. All governments governed the way they thought was best, but there was no consensus as to which one worked the finest. Obviously, Thoreau thought the best was the one with little governing. A few hundred years ago, many European nations set up colonies in the New World, each governing in their own way. The English colony of Jamestown and the Spanish colonies are examples. Even though their thoughts on government were very different, they had a few similarities. Maybe if they had not governed in the ways they did, our nation would not have turned out the way it did.
First, the English governed their colony of Jamestown in their own special way. One way they did it was by using the Magna Carta (Magnificent Charter). The Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215 by King John, who was forced to sign it. Otherwise, they nobles (who drew it up) and the rest of the people of England would have rebelled against him. The Magna Carta was signed to basically take a lot of the power out of the king’s hands, and put it into the hands of the people. I think it was written to ameliorate the English people's lives at that time of history. The Magna Carta would let the colony govern itself more independently, but not totally. In addition, the Magna Carta had a lot of rules and regulations in it, but the one I believe was the most important, was the "redress of grievances." If the people of the colonies (or the people of England) were not happy with the rule of the king (or the king was not doing things to their wishes), the people had the right to not pay the taxes, or rebel against him. That prevented King James from doing anything the people did not like. In addition, Jamestown governed with a governor. The governor was almost completely in charge over the colony, and kept it together as one without rebellion. He also repeated to the king all the happenings around Jamestown. Although the governor did not have complete control over the colony, his job was quite important! The social classes in Jamestown were set up such that there were only two classes. You were either a freeman...