ENGLISH REVOLUTION- HISTORY OF COLONIAL AMERICA

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.