Government in the Colonies

Between 1607 and 1733, the English founded thirteen colonies along the eastern coast of North America. From these English colonies evolved are government. Democracy in all the colonies grew rapidly, but it did not yet exist in its current form. Women and enslaved persons could not vote.

A key feature of the colonial period was government according some type of written plan. The Mayflower Compact that the Pilgrims signed in 1620 stand s as the first example of many colonial plans for self-government.