During the colonial period there were sev eral instances of the tendency of the colo nies, having very similar institutions and ideals, to act jointly as a confederate body. The first effort at a union of colonies was in 1643, when Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven formed, under the title of 'The United Colonies of New England,' a confederacy, which existed for nearly forty years, for mutual defense against the French, Dutch, and Indians. They also experienced the benefit of united action during the early Indian wars, and again in t754, the year of the opening of the French and Indian War (q.v.). At that time also, the colonies being strongly advised by the Lords of Trade to unite for general defense, a formal plan for a permanent general govern ment of all the English colonies was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin (q.v.) and presented at the Albany Convention (q.v.) ; but it was rejected by both the colonies and the Crown.
Although the several colonies were at no time organically connected, except through the King, the basis for union was early laid in the estab lishment of local governments in which the con trolling principles were similar. There appeared also a substantial identity in forms and in practices of local government. This made it natu ral that occasionally during the colonial period there should appear marked tendencies toward union. In some respects, however, different types of population distinguished the several portions of settled territory, a fact due in some measure to the various classes of people in England from which the immigrants came. Thus during the period between 1620 and 1640 large numbers of dissenters withdrew from England, and the settlements in the north increased in munher and population, the main eolony of Ma-ssaehnsetts Bay being established in 1625-30. and nu merous towns in the neighboring district being soon founded, while settlements were made (1635-36) at Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, the three towns which originally constituted the colony of Connecticut, and for the administration of which was adopted in 1639 the first written constitution of representa tive government. In 163g the colony of New Ha ven was established. In this period also the same hody of population extended northward into what became New Hampshire, as well as into the north eastern portion of Massachusetts. On the other band, a representative of the aristocratic class founded the colony of Maryland in 1634. During the period of the Commonwealth in England most of the immigrants were drawn from the Cavalier and Royalist classes, which were then out of power, and by this phase of migration Virginia and Maryland especially profited. Following the Restoration the increased power of the King in colonial politics was illustrated in the grant of the Carolinas to a body of proprietors, and of Pennsylvania to a single proprietor, while in the same period New York, acquired in 1664 by conquest from the Dutch, was organized as a royal province. The administration
of New Jersey was given over to a body of pro prietors, amid the varions p,ettlernents in Rhode island were organized by charter into a colony. Throughout this period there was a steady de velopment of uniformity in the provincial gov ernments. At the basis of it all lay the prin ciples of a democratic or representative govern ment, which were brought to America by the earliest colonists. A representative and popular government was established in Virginia as early as 1610, before the founding of the New England colonies, in which democratic institutions existed from the outset. Coincident with this growth of uniformity, and this preparation for unity in organization as well as in action, ap peared indications of divergence in theory as to the proper position of the provinces within the English State. On the one hand, in the instances where even the executive was chosen within the province and where no pro vision was made for the approval of provincial laws by the King, there appeared substantially independent local autonomy, the prevalence of which type would create a thoroughly decentral ized system of government. On the other hand, in the instances where the Governor and all im portant executive and judicial officers were ap pointees of the Crown, where the governor's council was chosen by the Crown. and where all provincial laws were subject to the ap proval of the Crown, there was created a strongly centralized form of imperial government. Both of these types of provincial administration ap peared in the colonial period, although they were irreconcilable, and as one form of government recognized privileges which the colonists would not relinquish and which the home Government would not recognize as rights, and as the other form included powers which the colonists claimed were improperly exercised by the King, it was inevitable that the attempt forcibly to harmonize the two systems should create such friction as to foreshadow revolution. Originally, the colonies were regarded as within the King's exclusive jurisdiction, and it was not until the Protec torate and the reign of Charles II. that they were considered as organic portions of the Em pire. so as to be governed by Parliament ; then Navigation Laws (q.v.) were passed to give Brit ish ships a monopoly of commerce, certain arti cles produced in the colonies were required to be sent to England. and duties were levied on com modities sent from one colony to another. Pro tests were made against these assumptions; Massachusetts and other provinces asserted their rights of self-government and of exemption from Parliamentary control; and it was not until the English revolution of 1118S that settled and uniform relations with the several colonies were established, and the increased authority of Par liament, both within the realm and in the colo nies, was fully recognized.