Final answer:
The statement that the great distance between North America and England enabled the early colonies to practice self-government is true. This period, known as salutary neglect, allowed the colonies to develop representative legislative bodies and a tradition of self-governance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Self-government in the early days of the colonies was indeed made possible by the great distance between North America and England. True or false? The statement is true. The significant geographic separation across the Atlantic Ocean contributed to a period known as 'salutary neglect,' where American colonists developed their governance skills due to British preoccupation with their own affairs and difficulties in enforcing stringent controls over such a distance. As a result, the colonies began practicing various forms of self-government early on.
Colonies such as Virginia established their own representative bodies, like the House of Burgesses in 1619, and the Plymouth Colony adopted the Mayflower Compact in 1620, which was an agreement among the settlers to govern themselves. By the time of the American Revolution, colonists had established a tradition of representative government, which they fiercely defended when they felt it was threatened by British parliamentary actions.