The Mayflower Compact
1) What concepts are included in the Mayflower Compact?
Some of the concepts
of the Mayflower Compact include the creation of a type of majority rule
government. This government rules for the general good of the colony and
explains the mother country and king would have full obedience for the people
of the colonies.
The laws which were
included in the Mayflower Compact were similar to the “Old” world; in fact many
of the laws were taken from Britain. The Mayflower Compact also establishes
“New” world influences due to their government which is different from the
governments of the “Old” world.
3) How did the Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut differ from the Mayflower Compact? The Mayflower Compact and Fundamental Orders of Connecticut differ in their sense of permanence. The Mayflower Compact was established to keep the people of the colony in line until a permanent set of laws was created. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut on the other had were set up to be permanent laws, and attempted to create a constitution for Connecticut.
4) What prompted the colonists of Connecticut to take this approach to government, i.e.: use of a written Constitution?
The colonists of Connecticut desired one government to rule the colony so they were unified rather than, a government for each down. In order to do this, the colony needed to set up a strong government with a set of stable laws in which the colonist could live by.
5) In what significant way(s) does the Fundamental Orders reflect a fear of and safeguard against the usurping of power by one person or a chosen few?
The Fundamental Orders is clearly influenced by the fear of an uprising and one person coming to power, to minimize this fear the Fundamental Orders created a democratic government. This government included a system of voting and courts, in which a basic form of checks and balances would be applied to ensure that no one man would have too much power.
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