ren’t any banks to ensure that England got all the money it possibly could. Yet, since, in the early days of the colonies, England didn’t pay much attention to them so they didn’t really follow the rules set on them now. Being trade companies set up the colonies, they already traded with each other and other countries as well continued to do so when the laws started. They produced crops such as tobacco, rice, and sugar. They also had shipbuilding companies. Plus, the colonies had a slave trade with the Dutch and the West Indies.Building on English foundations of political liberty, the colonists extended the concepts of liberty the self-government far beyond those envisioned in the mother country. By 1775, the colonies had different forms of government. Eight of them had royal governors. Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware chose their own governors or proprietors. The last two, Connecticut and Rhode Island were independent and self governing, electing their own governors. Almost all of the colonies had a two-house legislature, which included the upper house or council, and the lower house or popular branch. There were strict qualifications for voting. Certain religious and property qualifications were necessary for one to be able to vote. Although satisfying the land requirement was somewhat easy, some that were qualified didn’t exercise the privilege. Even though America was not a true democracy, it was, however much more democratic than both England and Europe.In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes of England, the colonies developed a fluid class structure, which enabled the industrious individual to rise on the social ladder. This however, rags-to-riches feature was a rarity in England, it means that just because one is born into a certain class doesn’t mean that one can’t change to different classes weather the move is up or down the ladder. The colonial social structure contained...
