With these differences, all the colonies had the same form of government. In each there was a legislature elected by the people; in each the right to vote was limited to men who owned land, paid taxes, had a certain yearly income, and were members of some Christian church. The legislature consisted of two branches: the lower house, to which the people elected delegates; and the upper house, or council, appointed by the governor. These legislatures could do many things, but their powers were limited and their acts were subject to review: 1. They could do nothing contrary to the laws of England. 2. Whatever they did could be vetoed by the governors, and no bill could be passed over the veto. 3. All laws passed by a colonial legislature (except in the case of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maryland), and approved by a governor, must even then be sent to England to be examined by the King in Council, and could be "disallowed" or vetoed by the King at any time within three years. This power was used so constantly that the colonial legislatures, in time, would pass laws to run for two years, and when that time expired would reënact them for two years more, and so on in order to avoid the veto. In this way the colonists became used to three political institutions which were afterwards embodied in what is now the American system of state and national government: 1. The written constitution defining the powers of government. 2. The exercise of the veto power by the governor. 3. The setting aside of laws by a judicial body from whose decision there is no appeal. %102. The Colonial Governors.%--The governor of a royal province was the personal representative of the King, and as such had vast power. The legislature could meet only when he called it. He could at any moment prorogue it (that is, command it to adjourn to a certain day) or dissolve it, and, if the King approved, he need never call it together again. He was the chief justice of the highest colonial court, he appointed all the judges, and, as commander in chief of the militia, appointed all important officers. Yet even he was subject to some control, for his salary was paid by the colony over which he ruled, and, by refusing to pay this salary, the legislature could, and over and over again did, force him to approve acts he would not otherwise have sanctioned. In Connecticut and Rhode Island the people elected the governors. This right once existed also in Massachusetts; but when the old charter was swept away in 1684, and replaced by a new one in 1691, the King was given power to appoint the governor, who could summon, dissolve, and prorogue the legislature at his pleasure.