Governance, Constitution and Political Development
From proprietors to Crown colony
Candidates should trace the constitutional sequence: proprietary government from 1670, royal government from 1718 under Woodes Rogers, and the establishment of a representative assembly. The Bahamas developed a bicameral legislature with an appointed Legislative Council and an elected House of Assembly, alongside a governor representing the Crown. The House of Assembly, first meeting in the early eighteenth century, gave the colony a tradition of elected representation long before universal suffrage.
Who could vote and sit
The franchise was limited by property and, in practice, by race and gender. Women could not vote; many men were excluded by property qualifications. Reform came slowly, and the twentieth-century suffrage movement must be understood against this restricted base. Questions often test the difference between representative government, where some people elect an assembly, and responsible government, where the executive answers to that assembly.
The 1963 constitution and after
The 1963 constitution introduced ministerial government and an enlarged franchise, shifting power from the governor and appointed officials toward elected ministers. Further change came with majority rule in 1967, internal self-government, and the 1973 constitution at independence, which created a governor-general, a prime minister and a cabinet responsible to parliament.
Traps to expect
Do not confuse the Legislative Council (appointed) with the House of Assembly (elected). Do not say the Bahamas had responsible government in the eighteenth century; it had representative institutions with a powerful governor.
Rule of thumb
Match each constitutional stage to its date: 1718 royal government, 1963 ministerial government, 1967 majority rule, 1973 independence.