This document of HIS 303 Week 1 Discussion Question 1 English Politics and Political Traditions comprises:

Americans often imagine that their political institutions and principles are unique and unheralded; yet, many of them might be traced back to the heritage of England at the time the colonies were first formed, and over the course of the colonial period as English political institutions evolved. Identify the ways that English politics and political traditions influenced the political and legal institutions of colonial America.

What aspects of the English political heritage did the colonists claim for themselves? How did English institutions and principles evolve in the colonies? How and why had English and American conceptions of their shared political heritage diverged so sharply by the middle of the 1700s? What constitutional disagreements brought about the American Revolution?

In responding to the above questions, draw from the material in one of the following videos:

a. In the beginning

b. Larry Kramer: American legal history: Colonial era to 1800

c. Liberty! Episode 1