In the pre-colonial period, North America was divided into thirteen colonies: Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, Delaware, and Connecticut. This discussion post will focus on the charters of Connecticut and Georgia. The Charter of Connecticut was secured because of Connecticut’s realization following the restoration of Charles II to the English throne in 1660 (Howard, 2022). The charter was ruled by Charles II until 1732 when King George II took over the colony and created the Charter of Georgia.
The Charter of Connecticut granted the people the democratic right to choose their governor. A corporation with lease freedom makes grants and disposes of the property. Similarly, the Charter of Georgia granted the power to trustees of a corporation to the extent that they could elect their governor and make land grants while establishing the new laws and taxes (Cooks, 2022). The organization was a benevolent body, leading to the failure of its trustees to get land or hold a position in the corporation. However, the Charter of Connecticut and the Charter of Georgia are different in that they were created over fifty years apart and appointed under different monarchs with different leaders. In the Charter of Connecticut, each Native American tribe had its leadership and territory, although they all spoke the same language and had numerous cultural commonalities (Howard, 2022). On the other hand, the colonists in Colonial Georgia enjoyed friendly interactions with the local Native Americans.
The Charter of Connecticut and the Charted of Georgia were granted far more political freedom than in the other colonies. From the similarities and differences of the charters in the two colonies, it is learned that Britain granted a charter to the colonial administration of a charter colony, which established the rules for the colony’s governance. In this case, even in the pre-colonial era, democracy was exercised in the election of governors.
References
Cooks. (2022). The Avalon Project: Charter of Georgia: 1732. Avalon.law.yale.edu.
Howard. (2022). The Avalon Project: Charter of Connecticut – 1662. Avalon.law.yale.edu.