=The Colonial Assembly.=—­Coincident with the drift toward administration through royal governors was the second and opposite tendency, namely, a steady growth in the practice of self-government.  The voters of England had long been accustomed to share in taxation and law-making through representatives in Parliament, and the idea was early introduced in America.  Virginia was only twelve years old (1619) when its first representative assembly appeared.  As the towns of Massachusetts multiplied and it became impossible for all the members of the corporation to meet at one place, the representative idea was adopted, in 1633.  The river towns of Connecticut formed a representative system under their “Fundamental Orders” of 1639, and the entire colony was given a royal charter in 1662.  Generosity, as well as practical considerations, induced such proprietors as Lord Baltimore and William Penn to invite their colonists to share in the government as soon as any considerable settlements were made.  Thus by one process or another every one of the colonies secured a popular assembly.

It is true that in the provision for popular elections, the suffrage was finally restricted to property owners or taxpayers, with a leaning toward the freehold qualification.  In Virginia, the rural voter had to be a freeholder owning at least fifty acres of land, if there was no house on it, or twenty-five acres with a house twenty-five feet square.  In Massachusetts, the voter for member of the assembly under the charter of 1691 had to be a freeholder of an estate worth forty shillings a year at least or of other property to the value of forty pounds sterling.  In Pennsylvania, the suffrage was granted to freeholders owning fifty acres or more of land well seated, twelve acres cleared, and to other persons worth at least fifty pounds in lawful money.

Restrictions like these undoubtedly excluded from the suffrage a very considerable number of men, particularly the mechanics and artisans of the towns, who were by no means content with their position.  Nevertheless, it was relatively easy for any man to acquire a small freehold, so cheap and abundant was land; and in fact a large proportion of the colonists were land owners.  Thus the assemblies, in spite of the limited suffrage, acquired a democratic tone.

The popular character of the assemblies increased as they became engaged in battles with the royal and proprietary governors.  When called upon by the executive to make provision for the support of the administration, the legislature took advantage of the opportunity to make terms in the interest of the taxpayers.  It made annual, not permanent, grants of money to pay official salaries and then insisted upon electing a treasurer to dole it out.  Thus the colonists learned some of the mysteries of public finance, as well as the management of rapacious officials.  The legislature also used its power over money grants to force the governor to sign bills which he would otherwise have vetoed.