ABSTRACT
The oldest settlements were those on the American mainland, but to speak of these as if they were in any sense a unity is misleading* Neither in forms of government, nor in social structure, nor in economic interests were they alike. By the middle of the century Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and the Carolinas were royal colonies, and Georgia was about to become so. Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland were proprietary colonies, Rhode Island and Connecticut corporate colonies, and Massachusetts a mixture of corporate and royal. The degree of influence exercised by the Crown depended on the form of government, being greatest in the royal and least in the corporate colonies. Nowhere was it absolute. Indeed, the colonial governor was very largely between the devil and the deep blue sea. The colonists regarded themselves as Englishmen, with all the rights and liberties, theoretical and actual, which the constitutionally-minded Englishman claimed at home. These rights were obstinately main tained by the locally-elected colonial Assemblies. All the older colonies, except Pennsylvania and Delaware, were bicameral and, however the Upper House was chosen, the Lower House represented colonial interests and prejudices. Without its co-operation colonial government could not be financed. Just as George II had on occasions to defer to his faithful Commons, so the colonial
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governor could lead, but not drive, his Assembly. His position was made more difficult because he was bound by the terms of his com mission, which provided the base of his authority. When, as often happened, a colony viewed a problem from one angle and English ministers viewed it from a totally contradictory one, his position was far from enviable. Before the middle of the century the right of the Parliament at Westminster to legislate for the colonies was un questioned, but to ensure that the colonial governments took com mon action on a policy sponsored in England was beyond the powers of either the Secretary of State or the colonial governors.
