By the year 1733 the English had owned thirteen separate colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America. All the English colonies in America shared a tradition of representative government. This means that in all of them people had a say in how they were governed. Each colony had its own government. At the head of this government was a governor, chosen in most cases by the English king. To rule effectively, these governors depended upon the cooperation of assemblies elected by the colonists. In most of the colonies all white men who owned some land had the right to vote. The years from the 1750s until the mid-1770s were uneasy times in the colonies. First the colonists fought the French and American Indians to gain land. Then they argued with the British king about their rights and freedom. Democracy in all the colonies grew rapidly. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress took the step that many Americans believed was inevitable. It cut all political ties with Britain and declared that “these United Colonies are free, and independent states”. Two days later, on July 4, it issued the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is the most important document in American history. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, a lawyer from Virginia. After repeating that the colonies were now “free and independent states” it officially named them the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence was more than a statement that the colonies were a new nation. It said that governments should consist of representatives elected by the people; that the main reason that governments existed was to protect the rights of individual citizens. In 1790 the Constitution of the USA was adopted and a year later, in 1791 ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights were added to the Constitution. The Constitution gave the United States a “federal system of government”. A federal system is one in which the power to rule is shared. The Constitution made arrangements for the election of a national leader called the President. He would head the “executive” side of the nation’s government. 1. How many colonies had the English owned by the year 1733? 2. What form of government did they have? 3. Who was at the head of each government? 4. What right did all white men who owned any land have? 5. What was the reason for arguing with the British king? 6. When was the Declaration of Independence issued? 7. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 8. What did the Declaration of Independence state? 9. When was the Constitution of the USA adopted? 10. How do the Americans call their ten amendments to the Constitution? 11. What did the Constitution give the United States?

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