. The library of American history, literature and biography .. . h them a GreatCharter, transferring the gov-ernment from old Englandto Massachusetts, and therethey enlarged the member-ship of the Company ofMassachusetts trans-formed the government intoa representative inhabitants of Virginiahad not authority to electtheir own governor, save fora short time during the daysof the Commonwealth inEngland, but for more thanhalf a century the people ofMassachusetts chose all theirpublic officers and instructed them at their pleasure. The immediate responsi-bility of the represe
. The library of American history, literature and biography .. . h them a GreatCharter, transferring the gov-ernment from old Englandto Massachusetts, and therethey enlarged the member-ship of the Company ofMassachusetts trans-formed the government intoa representative inhabitants of Virginiahad not authority to electtheir own governor, save fora short time during the daysof the Commonwealth inEngland, but for more thanhalf a century the people ofMassachusetts chose all theirpublic officers and instructed them at their pleasure. The immediate responsi-bility of the representative of the town to the townsmen was the fundamentalnotion in the New England idea of government. But the representative republic, the commonwealth, of New England, wasnot composed of freemen only, for there were many inhabitants of Massachusetts who were excluded from participation in the political life of the the half century of government under the old charter, the people ofMassachusetts comprised both church members and non-church members,. THE LIBERTY BELL, AS EXHIBITED AT THE NEW ORLEANS EXPOSITION. 98 THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. but only the churcK members were eligible to public ofifice. ^Persons dis-jtenting from the congregational polity in church and state, persons notcommunicants in the orthodox establishment, were excluded from directparticipation in the government; they could not vote, they could not holdoffice, their children could not be baptized. When Charles II caused theforfeiture of the Massachusetts charter in 1684, although the liberty ofMassachusetts seemed greatly endangered, yet a nearer approach to thedefinition of liberty was made ; for the careless King, in order to win approvalof his procedure among the colonists, had already intimated his desire toenlarge the franchise in Massachusetts, and to open the privileges of freedommore liberally to the inhabitants of the colony. This proposition to enlargethe liberties of the inhabitants met
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