The English who in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries inhabited those colonies that would later become the United States shared a common political vocabulary with the English in England.
Topic
How English colonists in America developed political attitudes that diverged from those of the English in England, even while sharing institutions and vocabulary.
Framework
Highlight Noteworthy. The author lays out the structural similarities between English and colonial institutions, then uses the gap in attitudes — especially around Parliament and "constitution" — to explain how the colonists came to see things differently.
Main Point
Although the American colonists shared a political vocabulary and similar institutions with the English, their experience under written charters gave key terms — especially "constitution" and "parliamentary power" — different meanings, leaving the colonists wary of unlimited Parliamentary power and committed to written constitutions that explicitly defined governmental authority.
P1: Shared vocabulary, divergent meanings
The colonists shared English political vocabulary but unknowingly used the words differently — and even claimed greater loyalty to the English political tradition than the English themselves.
P2: Structural similarity
Most colonies had Royal Governors paralleling the King and representative assemblies modeled on Parliament; only property holders voted on both sides.
P3: English views of Parliament
English law had been moving toward Parliament's absolute power: the King became subject to law, and Parliament was held to be unlimited — capable of changing the constitution by ordinary legislation. By the 18th century the English saw their parliamentary representatives as omnipotent.