In the spring of 1607, 144 men sent by the London Company, landed on Chesapeake Bay where they then sailed 60 miles up the James River, where they established the Jamestown settlement. Although the beginning of the Jamestown settlement was rough, it was not until 1616 when Virginia’s settlers learned how to grow tobacco,where it seemed the colonies might survive. For instance, between 1607 and 1763, British north American colonies developed experience in self-governance through constructing the House of Burgesses and signing the Mayflower Compact, and the colonists developed their expectation of self-government and individual freedoms based on the isolation that separated them apart from England. First of all, the House of Burgesses was the first elected legislative representative assembly, consisted of twenty-two members, and was established in Jamestown in 1619. The House of Burgesses had the power to enact legislation on the colony, but were subject to veto by the council, governor, or directors in London. The assembly did not succeed at first as a result of a malaria outbreak, so the members did not accomplish much, but this concept of a legislative body would have been unthinkable to Spain and France; highlighting how the degree of to …show more content…
In the spring of 1620, 102 passengers would sail across the Atlantic Ocean, and in November, reach Cape Cod in America. There, all men aboard the ships would sign an agreement to construct a government in the Plymouth Colony; this agreement is better known as the Mayflower Compact. The Compact stated that the colony was free of any English law, as well as constructing a government within themselves where the “majority rules.” To conclude, the Mayflower Compact developed the British North American colonies’ experience in self-government and their individual freedoms, and also developing their expectation in those