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Difficulty: MediumNew England Colonies

> "The foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people. . . . [A]s God has given us liberty, let us take it. . . . [T]hey who have power to appoint officers and magistrates, it is in their power, also, to set the bounds and limits of the power and duty, unto which they call them."
>
> — Reverend Thomas Hooker, sermon at Hartford, Connecticut, 1638

Which of the following historical developments in the New England colonies is best illustrated by the excerpt?

  1. A
    The direct imposition of royal imperial control to enforce mercantilist trade policies.
  2. The development of self-governing political structures rooted in community agreements.Answer
  3. C
    The emergence of a plantation economy dependent on a single cash crop for export.
  4. D
    The legal formalization of lifelong chattel slavery to replace a reliance on European indentured servants.

Answer

The development of self-governing political structures rooted in community agreements.
The correct answer is correct because New England Puritans established close-knit communities governed by religious covenants and representative local institutions, such as town meetings and early constitutions like the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which emphasized the consent of the governed.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the provided historical source.
The excerpt is from a 1638 sermon by Puritan minister Thomas Hooker in Hartford, Connecticut, arguing that governing authority is based on the consent of the people and that citizens have the right to limit the power of magistrates.
Understanding the source's main argument about consent and limited authority provides the historical context needed to connect it to colonial developments.
2
Contextualize within regional colonial characteristics.
Puritan settlers in New England frequently created self-governing institutions (such as town meetings and covenants like the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut) to organize their communities locally based on religious and social principles.
Connecting the source to New England's specific political and religious institutions helps identify the correct developmental pattern.
3
Evaluate the choices and eliminate historically inaccurate options.
Select the option focusing on self-governing structures and reject distractors that incorrectly apply Chesapeake demographics, mercantilist trade policy, or Southern labor systems.
This guarantees that the selected answer directly matches the political developments of the New England colonies rather than other regions.

Key Concept

New England political and social organization based on Puritan beliefs and covenants.
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Topics

New England Colonies

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