What were the conditions on the slave ships that traveled along The Middle Passage?

B-   Many of the colonies elected representative assemblies.

The colonies practiced limited forms of self-government since the early 1600s. Each of the thirteen colonies had a written agreement between the colony and the king of England, or Parliament. This agreement of royal colonies provided for direct rule by the king. A colonial legislative was elected by property holding males. But governors were appointed by the king and had almost complete authority.

Each colony had its own government but the British king controlled these governments. The colonist could not govern themselves and make their own laws. They had elected represented assemblies,  in which members were elected annually, by the propertied citizens of the towns or counties.

The first Pilgrims, who landed in Plymouth, had no official agreements to govern them, so they drafted the Mayflower Compact, which in essence declare that they would rule themselves. Although they became eventually a royal colony, the pilgrims set a powerful precedent of making their own rules.