Most colonies combined a governor, a council, and an elected assembly. The balance among them varied, and royal or proprietary authorities retained substantial power. Still, representative bodies such as Virginia's House of Burgesses gave eligible colonists experience with legislation, taxation, and control of public spending. Assemblies often used the "power of the purse" to bargain with governors by conditioning salaries or appropriations. Town meetings in parts of New England allowed some residents to participate more directly in local decisions, while juries and local courts made legal procedure a familiar part of public life. These arrangements taught practical lessons about representation and accountability even when they fell far short of political equality.

The imperial system contained a tension that became sharper after the Seven Years' War. Britain regarded Parliament as sovereign throughout the empire and defended the idea that members of Parliament virtually represented British subjects whether or not those subjects elected them. Many colonists instead argued that internal taxes should be approved by assemblies in which they had actually chosen representatives. New revenue measures, tighter enforcement, and disputes over legislative authority after 1763 transformed an argument about policy into an argument about constitutional power. The slogan "no taxation without representation" therefore grew from an existing institutional expectation, not from opposition to every tax as such.

Colonial self-government must not be romanticized. Voting commonly depended on sex, property, race, religion, or local status. Women, enslaved people, Indigenous peoples, and many men lacked formal political power, while colonial law protected slavery and other hierarchies. Nor were the colonies independent democracies before 1776; the Crown, governors, councils, and Parliament remained part of the governing structure. On an exam, treat colonial practice as an influence on later expectations, not as the legal source of present federal authority. Ask which habit the scenario describes-written government, elected representation, control of taxation, jury procedure, or local participation-and then connect that habit to the grievance or institution it helps explain.

Video lesson: Natural rights, social contract, democracy, republicanism and limited government