The Development of the United States From Colonies to a World Power

henever the established order was interrupted, the colonists took things into their own hands. Usually an extra-legal body assumed control, and maintained not only the forms but the actual working of a government. The resolutions adopted and the actions taken by such bodies, although without the force of law, were generally recognized and obeyed by their constituents. Then, when independence was declared, each state formed a government of its own; not always immediately, where the old government answered the purpose, but in the course of three or four years. Certain phases of the evolution of the state governments are as interesting as they are important. , , Practically all of the colonies had State con- . J , , . stitutions come into existence under formal charter grants. In some cases the charter had remained the ultimate authorityas to the rights and privileges which had been given. The colonists, therefore, had been accustomed to appeal to a definite and fixed instrument. Of equal and perhaps greater influence was the prevailing belief that government was founded by a compact; if the compact were written it ought to be so much the stronger. This theory of the origin of government was strengthened by the existence in the religious sphere of the church covenants. It was even changed into a conviction by the conditions in America; such compacts had actually been formed, as on board the Mayflower, and in the founding of Connecticut and New Haven. Acco... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.