As settlers set up their
American colonies, a major political and religious conflict, the Puritan or
English Revolution, began about 1640 in England and lasted for 20 years.
Revolutionaries started an armed uprising, and after two civil wars, they
deposed and executed King Charles I. They then established a republican
commonwealth, led eventually by Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan and military hero of
the rebellion. During these two decades of political strife in England, there
were no new settlements in North America. The seven existing colonies largely
governed themselves and firmly established the representative institutions
allowed by their charters. During these years Virginia elected its own
governor, following the lead of other colonies, including Plymouth, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts Bay.
By 1660 the government
run by Cromwell had collapsed. During this period of turmoil, the American
colonists developed their own ideas about political authority and government
institutions. Three fundamental principles won broad support among the American
settlers: (1) People can create their own governments by composing a written
constitution or by transforming a charter into a political framework. (2)
People have a right to govern themselves through representative institutions.
(3) People can most effectively organize church-state relations by practicing
religious toleration and by establishing either a single church or a system of
multiple churches.
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