Before the Revolution the 13 colonies had a government that was _____________.

Given the way this question is worded, I wonder if you are supposed to choose from a list of words here.  Without the list, I cannot know for certain what word your teacher wants to see.  Without a list to pick from, my choice would be to say that before the Revolution, the 13 colonies had a government that was somewhat democratic.

Each of the colonies had its own separate government.  Those governments allowed for some democracy, but were not completely democratic.  The governments allowed for some democracy because they had a legislative branch that was elected by the adult white men who had some amount of property.  This legislative branch was often called the Assembly. 

However, the governments were not completely democratic.  This is because the government was headed by a governor who was advised by a council.  Neither the governor nor the council was elected.  Instead, the governor was appointed by the British government and was ultimately responsible only to them.  The council was appointed by the governor and the governor could remove council members if he wanted to.  Any laws that the Assembly passed could be rejected by the governor, thus making the governor the ultimate authority in the colony.

From this, we can see that the colonies each had a government that was somewhat, but not completely, democratic.