How Did Britain Influence Colonial America

In 1492, Christopher Columbus came across North America accidentally during his voyage to the East Indies. Columbus’s discovery marked the beginning of a new era; with it the Europeans became aware of the opportunities the New World offered. This encouraged others to set out and explore the North and South America in the 1500s. Although colonial America was governed under the British rule, it developed differently than Britain. Since Colonial America was diversified, it offered new opportunities, different religions, and different political views than Britain.

Religion is one cause in the way colonial America established differently than England. Religious persecutions were more prominent in England than in colonial America. Most colonists

Many colonists in the New World participated in court, with constantly occurring proceedings and many people working in the legal occupation .In contrast to Britain's political system, in which aristocracies conquered the occupation of ruling, the colonies political profession was open to white men of varied socioeconomic backdrops, including small farmers, and recent settlers. "Under British and colonial law, the government could not censor newspapers, books, and pamphlets before they appeared in print, but authors and publishers could be prosecuted for "seditious libel" a crime that included defaming government officials"(The Trial of John Peter Zenger (1735), 81) but as Andrew Hamilton had discussed in the Zenger case "that the "cause of liberty" itself was at stake"(Zenger, 82). And that this trial should be judged passed on the conditions of colonial America rather than the law as it was in England. "Zenger was found not guilty. The outcome demonstrated the idea of free expression was becoming ingrained in the popular imagination" (Zenger, 82). Colonial America's difference in governmental views from England helped establish the American