In colonial America, the citizens did not know exactly what they wanted for their government. The colonists knew they didn’t want their lives to be like they had been in England. They were open to ideas; they did not know what would work and what wouldn’t. The colonists knew that trial and error was the best idea at the time. The democratic and undemocratic features of colonial America were very apparent in that democracy as it was a work in progress. Although they were working out the issues, the colonists had some democratic features that were set and working. The rule of law describes that no person is above the supreme law. Everyone must obey laws; there is no supreme leader that can do anything they want. In Document 3: The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, it states “they shall have the power to call public officials or any other person into question for any misdemeanor and may with good reason remove or deal …show more content…
Regular free and fair elections is an example of this. In regular free and fair elections, people get to have a voice in elections. Document 6: Engraving of Virginia’s House of Burgesses says, “This legislature was made up of representative chosen by popular vote. Eventually, every colony in America would have such a legislature.” The House of Burgesses was the first legislature, so that was the start of the idea that every colony needed a legislature. Therefore, that was a work in progress.
This time in America had many complications, but document 3 showed that they had things that worked. They were still trying to figure out what worked and what did not as shown by document 6. Document 5 showed an undemocratic feature that did not work well. In colonial America there were many democratic features, such as the rule of law, individual or human rights, and regular free and fair elections, but at times those were considered undemocratic or a work in