Local Government in the Colonies
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Local Government in the Colonies
If the representative assemblies in every colony were the most powerful
feature of the colonial constitutions, the American institutions of local
government still had nearly as much influence on the development of
the American political system that culminated in 1787. English local
government was far more vigorous and popular than local government
in France or in most of the rest of Europe during the eighteenth century;
but American local government was still more active than the British
forms, and attracted heartier public support.
By 1763, the forms of American local government varied considerably from province to province, and even within provinces—or colonies. Along the wild western frontier, local government was democratic
and informal, but highly effective—as it had need to be because of the
frontier’s perils and the need for prompt cooperation among neighbors.
At the other extreme, some towns along the Atlantic seaboard held charters of incorporation that conferred great powers upon municipal governments, much like the privileges held by venerable European cities.
There were forms of county government throughout British North
America, but the county system of local government was strongest in
the South, and the ‘‘middle colonies’’ of New York and Pennsylvania.
In Virginia, the political powers of the county were greater than they are
today in any American county. Each Virginia county was controlled by a
county court composed of the county’ ͕ٕ́Ʌ