 The General Court , as the legislative and judicial bodies , and the Governor , as the chief executive of the colony , constituted a political system of division of power . It followed a recommendation in John Calvin 's political theory to set up several institutions which complement and control each other in a system of checks and balances in order to avoid , or at least to minimize , the misuse of political power . In 1625 , the settlers had repaid their debts and thus gained complete possession of the colony . The colony was de facto a republic , since neither an English company nor the King and Parliament exerted any influence — a representative democracy governed on the principles of the Mayflower Compact ( " self @-@ rule " ) . 
