2 - Major Events in the Colonies - Effects on Colonial Charters

•Focus: How the ideas of limited government and protected rights in the Magna Carta shaped the charters and governments of the English colonies. Recall key principles of the Magna Carta. (Grammar) Explain how these ideas influenced English political culture and were brought to the colonies. (Logic) Articulate why the colonists structured their charters and governments around these same principles. (Rhetoric)
•English colonists saw themselves as English subjects, not strangers, and expected their ancient rights to follow them across the Atlantic.
•On the Board:
| **Magna Carta (1215)** | **Colonial Charters (1606–1732)** |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Limited the king’s power | Limited the governor’s power |
| “Law of the land” / trial by jury | Rights to trial by jury in colonial courts |
| “No taxation without consent” | Colonial assemblies controlled taxation |
| Protection of property | Land rights granted by charters |
| Representative consent | Elected assemblies (e.g., Virginia House of Burgesses)
•Guiding question: “Why did colonists want their own written charters?”
-Lead them through the reasoning:
-Colonists feared arbitrary power — they wanted law, not will, to rule.
-Charters served as a contract between colonists and the Crown, echoing the barons’ contract with King John.
-Each charter laid out boundaries, rights, and systems of governance to prevent abuse.
-When colonial governors overstepped, colonists appealed to their charters just as the barons appealed to Magna Carta.
•Have students draw a simple “cause-and-effect chain”: Magna Carta limits king → English political culture expects law to limit rulers → Colonists demand written charters → Colonial assemblies defend those rights.
•Imagine you are colonists drafting your own charter. Which right would you insist on including, and why?
•Write a 1-2 sentence declaration beginning with: “We the colonists of ________ insist that…”
Reinforce the key takeaway:
-The Magna Carta planted the seed of limited government.
-The colonial charters carried that seed to America, where it grew into representative self-government.
-When conflict arose later with Britain, colonists didn’t invent new rights—they claimed ancient English rights.