[Illustration:  Tobacco rolling[1]]

[Footnote 1:  From a model in the National Museum, Washington.]

Maryland was in the same condition.  Her people raised tobacco, and with it bought their clothing, household goods, brass and copper wares, and iron utensils in Great Britain.

In South Carolina rice was the great staple, just as tobacco was the staple of Virginia, and there too were large plantations and no towns.  All the social, commercial, legal, and political life of the colony centered in Charleston, from which a direct trade was carried on with London.

[Illustration:  %An old Maryland manor house%]

Labor on the plantations of Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia was performed exclusively by negro slaves and redemptioners.

%101.  Civil Government in the English Colonies.%—­If we arrange the colonies according to the kind of civil government in each, we find that they fall into three classes: 

1.  The charter colonies (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island).

2.  The proprietary colonies (Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland).

3.  The royal, or provincial, colonies (New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia).

The charters of the first group were written contracts between the King and the colonists, defined the share each should have in the government, and were not to be changed without the consent of both parties.  In colonies of the second group some individual, called the proprietary, was granted a great tract of land by the King, and, under a royal charter, was given power to sell the land to settlers, establish government, and appoint the governors of his colony.  In the third group, the King appointed the governors and instructed them as to the way in which he wished his colonies to be ruled.

With these differences, all the colonies had the same form of government.  In each there was a legislature elected by the people; in each the right to vote was limited to men who owned land, paid taxes, had a certain yearly income, and were members of some Christian church.  The legislature consisted of two branches:  the lower house, to which the people elected delegates; and the upper house, or council, appointed by the governor.  These legislatures could do many things, but their powers were limited and their acts were subject to review:  1.  They could do nothing contrary to the laws of England. 2.  Whatever they did could be vetoed by the governors, and no bill could be passed over the veto. 3.  All laws passed by a colonial legislature (except in the case of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maryland), and approved by a governor, must even then be sent to England to be examined by the King in Council, and could be “disallowed” or vetoed by the King at any time within three years.  This power was used so constantly that the colonial legislatures, in time, would pass laws to run for