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When met in regular form, the provincial legislature consisted of the governor, the council or upper house, and the assembly or deputies. These deputies, who were elected by the localities, constituted the only representative part of the legislature. In tenure and functions the governor and council were largely independent both of the deputies and of the electors. They were a part of the executive and were naturally swayed by a regard for the interests of the proprietor and by administrative traditions. In many cases the importance of the councils was increased by the fact that, with the governor, in early times they formed the highest judicial tribunal in the province. As the governor had the sole power of calling, proroguing and dissolving the general assembly, the council might advise him in such a way as to destroy the body itself or thwart its plans. The joint work of the council and assembly was subject to the veto of the proprietor, or of both the proprietor and his governor. The legislature of the province, therefore, differed materially from the general court, though in practice this was somewhat offset by the fact that in the New England Colonies the magistrates were usually re-elected for a long series of terms.
In the province, as in the kingdom, the legislature was in a sense an expansion of the executive, developed out of it, and was to an extent controlled by it. Out of this relation arose the possibility of conflict between the two parts of the legisla ture—that which represented the people and that which repre sented the proprietor. In the history of the provinces this formed the central line of cleavage. From the first the assemblies largely controlled taxation. Using this as a lever, they endeavoured to limit and define the powers of the executive and to extend the sphere of legislation more widely. Fees, from which officials derived most of their support, were a favourite object of their regulation. Occasionally offices which had originally been ap pointive were made elective. Protests of various kinds were made against official cliques. Now and again the lower house came to a deadlock with council or governor. Threatened or actual revolt was sometimes necessary to bring the executive to terms. By such tactics as these the popular elements in the constitutions of the provinces asserted themselves. The sphere of ordinance was gradually limited and that of statute extended.
In a number of provinces—the Carolinas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—the proprietors at various times initiated elaborate constitutions, in which not only a land system, but forms and functions of government were prescribed on a large scale. These were variously known as fundamental consti tutions, concessions and agreements, and frames of government, and in every case were submitted to the general assembly for its acceptance or rejection. Long struggles often ensued over the question of acceptance, which usually ended in the modifica tion or rejection of the schemes.
The history of these provinces was not uniform. In New Netherland and New York occurred a struggle for the establishment of a legislature, which continued at intervals for 4o years and was not permanently successful until after New York had become a royal province. The proprietors
of New Jersey never secured a royal charter, and therefore were not able to establish satisfactorily their claim to rights of govern ment. Within the vast reaches of the Carolina grant developed two provinces. One of these—North Carolina—was almost en tirely neglected by the proprietors, and the weakened executive repeatedly succumbed to popular violence. In South Carolina many violent controversies occurred, especially over the efforts of the proprietors to compel the acceptance of the Fundamental Constitutions, which originated with Locke and Shaftesbury. But in the end this failed, and a simple form of government, such as was adapted to the needs of the province, was developed. In Pennsylvania the liberal policy of the proprietor led at the be ginning to unusual concessions in favour of the colonists, one of the most characteristic of these being the grant of an elective council. The total neglect of provision for defence by the Quaker province led to the suspension of Penn's powers of government for about two years after the English Revolution and the out break of the war with France. This did away with the elective council for the time, and an appointive council was soon sub stituted. Finally, in i7oi, the council was deprived of its powers of legislation and thereafter the legislature of Pennsylvania con sisted of only one house—the assembly.
Imperial control over the Colonies, it is to be noted, proceeded chiefly from the English Crown. It was exercised through the secretary of State, the privy council and a succession of boards subordinate to it which were known as commissioners of plantations or the board of trade; by the Treasury and Admiralty boards and their sub ordinate bureaux; by the attorney general and the solicitor general and by the bishop of London. The more continuous and intimate supervision proceeded from the privy council and the commissioners subordinate to it, and from the Treasury board, which caused the auditing of such revenue as came from the Colonies, supervised expenditures for them and had an oversight over appointments in the colonial service. The privy council received letters and petitions on almost every kind of colonial business, caused hearings and inquiries to be held, and issued letters, instructions and orders in council on an equally great variety of matters. It also acted as the regular court of appeal for the plantations. As time advanced, more of the administra tive business passed directly into the office of one of the secre taries of State and the privy council became less active. The Admiralty was concerned with the equipment of the navy for service in the Colonies, and the high court of admiralty with the trial of prize cases and of cases arising from violations of the acts of trade. The bishop of London had supervision over the appointment and conduct of clergymen of the English Church in the colonies and over parish schools there.