English Bill of Rights Information Sheet · 2013-11-13 · • Quote English Bill of Rights:...

What is the English Bill of Rights of 1689?

The 1689 English Bill of Rights was a British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1689 that declared the rights and liberties of the people

Summary of the English Bill of Rights of 1689:

The 1689 English Bill of Rights enhanced the rights of the people by:

• Guaranteeing free elections and frequent meetings of Parliament• Quote, English Bill of Rights: “That election of members of Parliament ought to

be free…That for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.”

• Giving English people the right to complain to the king or queen in Parliament (Free Speech)

• Quote, English Bill of Rights: “That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal…That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament”

• Forbidding excessive fines and cruel punishment• Quote English Bill of Rights: “That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor

excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”

• Establishing representative government with laws made by a group that acts for the people

• Quote, English Bill of Rights 1689: “And whereas the said late King James the Second having abdicated the government and the throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants, and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs and cinque ports, for the choosing of such persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament, to meet

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English Bill of Rights Information Sheet

Sources: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp, http://www.landofthebrave.info/bill-of-rights-1689.htm

and sit at Westminster upon the two and twentieth day of January in this year one thousand six hundred eighty and eight [old style date], in order to such an establishment as that their religion, laws and liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted, upon which letters elections having been accordingly made; And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections, being now assembled in a full and free representative of this nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties”

Why is The English Bill of Rights important in the history of American Government?

• TheAmericanDeclarationofIndependenceThe 1776 American Declaration of Independence states that:• All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness; these are unalienable rights - rights that government cannot take away• Governments obtained their power from the consent of the people

These ideas are taken directly from the English Bill of Rights, which establishes a government for the people with Parliament and limits the ability of the King to interfere with the daily lives of his subjects.

• TheU.S.BillofRightsThe 1791 U.S. Bill of Rights guarantees:• Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press• Due process of law, including protection from unfair imprisonment• Trial by jury protecting people from “cruel and unusual punishment”

These rights are also guaranteed to the citizens of England through the English Bill of Rights of 1689.


What is the Magna Carta?

The Magna Carta is a document that King John of England (1166 - 1216) was forced into signing. King John was forced into signing the charter because it greatly reduced the power he held as the King of England and allowed for the formation of a powerful parliament. The Magna Carta became the basis for English citizen’s rights.

The purpose of the Magna Carta was to limit the King and make him govern by the historic laws of England. The Magna Carta was a collection of 37 historic English laws and showed that the power of the king could be limited by a written document.

Summary of the Magna Carta

The Magna Carta put the following main limits on the King’s power:

• TheChurch- The Church was to be free from royal interference, especially in the election of bishops

• Quote, Magna Carta, Section 1: “The English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church”

• Taxes- No taxes except the regular feudal dues were to be levied, except by the consent of the Great Council, or Parliament

• Quote, Magna Carta, Section 55: “All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all amercements, imposed unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the peace”

• Therighttodueprocess, or the rule that a legal case must be done in a way that protects the rights of all the people involved, which led to Trial by Jury

• Quote, Magna Carta, Section 17: “Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some fixed place.”

• Quote, Magna Carta, Section 18. “Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancestor, and of darrein presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county


Magna Carta Information Sheet

Sources: http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/documents_us/magna_carta_1215.htm, http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/magna-carta.htm

courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who shall alone with four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.”

Why is the Magna Carta important to the History of American Government?

The Magna Carta is considered the founding document of English liberties and American liberties because America started out as a colony of England. The influence of Magna Carta can be seen in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights as well as Article 21 from the Declaration of Rights in the Maryland Constitution of 1776 which reads:

• “That no freeman ought to be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized (removed) of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.”


Background Information:

Thomas Hobbes argued that humans were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish. If not strictly controlled, they would fight, rob, and oppress one another. Life in a “state of nature” –without laws or other controls—would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” To escape that “brutish” life, people enter into a social contract with a ruler, giving the ruler absolute power in order to prevent anarchy.

Summary of Main Ideas:

• Believed in the brutish, or violent, “state of nature” which means that men are naturally evil and fighting against each other in a state of nature that is dangerous and chaotic.

• Quote, “The Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes: “During the time men live without common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man, against every man. For ‘war’ consists not in battle only, or the act of fighting, but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.”

• Men will give up some of their liberty to get the benefit of the government’s protection and that the government’s ability to rule over the people is social contract between the government and the people.

• Quote, “The Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes: “That a man be willing…to lay down this right to all things and be contented with so much liberty against other men as he would allow other men against himself. For as long as every man holdeth the right of doing anything he liketh, so long are all men in the condition of war.”

How are the ideas of Hobbes important to the History of American Government?

As stated above, Hobbes believed that, at our core, people are driven by selfishness and greed. Hobbes thought that to avoid chaos, people must give up some of their freedom to a government that is responsible for ensuring and maintain order. Additionally, Hobbes thought there should be equal rights for all and nobody should have more power over anyone. He also believed that the community should have a say in the laws passed by the government.


Thomas Hobbes Resource Guide

Sources: http://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/pdf/Enlightenment_LOne.pdf, http://moversandshakershistorygrant.org/moversandshakershistorygrant.org/LessonPlans/High%20School/Enlightenment%20Thinkers%2BCarla%20Duda%2B9th.pdf

Hobbes’ beliefs influenced the Framers of the Constitution greatly because he called for a Social Contract between the people and the government. By giving up freedom in order to allow the government to maintain order, the people gain equal standing (equal rights) within the community as well as a right to influence the type of laws government passes. These are the ideas that serve as a foundation for our representative democracy where citizens agree to follow the laws of the country (giving up freedom to do whatever you want) and thus have the right to vote to support representatives and laws that they support.



Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that people were basically good but corrupted by society. In an ideal society, people would make the laws and would obey them willingly. Rousseau put his faith in the “general will” or the will of the majority. According to Rousseau, the problem of government was that too few people had control over the masses.


• Believedthatpoliticsandmoralityarenotseparate The passage from the state of nature to the civil state produces a very remarkable change in man, by substituting justice for instinct in his conduct and giving his actions the morality they had formally lacked. Then only when the voice of duty takes the place of physical impulses and right of appetite does man, who so far had considered only himself find that he has forced to act on different principles and to consult his reason before listening to his inclinations.

• Governmentiscreatedandexiststopreservefreedom In short, each giving himself to all gives himself to nobody…We see from this formula that the act of association contains a reciprocal engagement between the public and individuals, and that every individual…is engaged in a double relation…

• Governmentisacontractbetweentherulerandcitizens Laws are, properly speaking, only the conditions of civil association. The people, being subject to the laws, ought to be their author: the conditions of the society ought to be regulated solely by those who come together to form it…The individuals see the good they reject; the public wills the good it does not see. All stand equally in need of guidance. The former must be compelled to bring their wills into conformity with their reason; the latter must be taught to know what it wills. If that is done, public enlightenment leads to the union of understanding and will in the social body: the parts are made to work exactly together, and the whole is raised to its highest power. This makes a legislator necessary.

How did the ideas of Rousseau influence the American Government?

In his book, The Social Contract, Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote about an ideal society. In this


Rousseau Resource Guide


society, people would form a community and make a contract with each other, not with a ruler. People would give up some of their freedom in favor of the needs of the majority. The community would vote on all decisions, and everyone would accept the community decision. When Rousseau wrote The Social Contract, there was not a society in the world with such a system. His vision, however, was shared by American colonists and others.



Charles-Louis de Secondat, the Baron of Montesquieu, studied politics throughout his life and wrote a huge and detailed study of government. One of his key views was that authority should be divided. He believed that each branch of government should serve as a check on the other branches.


• Three-partgovernment---legislative,executive,andjudicial In every government there are three sorts of power, the legislative; the executive, in respect to things dependent on the law of nations, and the executive, in regard to things that depend on the civil law. By virtue of the first [power], the prince or magistrate enacts temporary or perpetual laws and amends or abrogates those that have been already enacted. By the second [power], he makes peace or war, sends of receives embassies; establishes the public security; and provides against invasions. By the third [power], he punishes criminals, or determines the disputes that arise between individuals. The latter we shall call the judiciary power, and the other simply the executive power of the state.

• SeparationofgovernmentalpowersThe political liberty of the subjects is a tranquility of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constructed as one man need not be afraid of another. When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws to execute them in a tyrannical manner. Again there is no liberty, the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers; were in joined with legislative, the life and liberty of the subject, would be exposed to the judge might behave with all the violence of an oppressor.

• Believedintheuniquenessofcitizensshouldbereflectedintheirgovernment They should be relative to the nature of principle of each government….They should be relative to the climate of each country, to the quality of its soil, to its situation and extent, to the principal occupation of the inhabitants, whether farmers, huntsmen, or


Montesquieu Resource Guide


shepherds; they should have a relation to the degree of liberty which the constitution will bear, to the religion of the inhabitants, to their manners, and customs…in all which different respects they ought to be considered.

How are the ideas of Montesquieu important to the History of American Government?

The Framers, most especially James Madison, drew upon Montesquieu theory of the separation of powers when drafting the Constitution. Montesquieu argued that the best way to secure liberty and prevent a government from becoming corrupted was to divide the powers of government among different actors who would check each other. For example, Montesquieu warned that “Were the executive power not to have a right of restraining the encroachments of the legislative body, the latter would become despotic; for as it might arrogate to itself what authority it pleased, it would soon destroy all the other powers.”Madison and the Framers took heed of Montesquieu warning by establishing an independent executive (the President), legislative (the Congress), and judiciary (the Supreme Court) in the federal Constitution. Madison masterfully protected the separation of powers by establishing a thorough system of checks and balances as well.



John Locke thought that people were basically reasonable and moral. He argued that man had certain inalienable rights that no government could deny. These included the right to life, liberty and property. According to Locke, the best kind of government had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Locke rejected the idea of absolute monarchy. He believed that if a government attempted to deny people their natural right, then the people had the right to replace the government


• Believedallindividualshadnaturalrightswhichinclude“life,liberty,andproperty” All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

• TheState(government)shouldprotectindividualrights “These are the bounds which the trust that is put in them by the society and the law of God and Nature have set to the legislative power of every commonwealth, in all forms of government. First: They are to govern by…established laws, not to be varied in particular cases, but to have one rule for rich and poor…Secondly: These laws also ought to be designed for …the good of the people. Thirdly: They must not raise taxes on the property of the people without the consent of the people given by themselves of their deputies…Fourthly: Legislative neither must nor can transfer the power of making laws to anybody else, or place it anywhere but where the people have.”

• Citizensshouldrebelagainstunjustgovernments “The legislature acts against the trust reposed in them, when they endeavor to invade the property of the subject, and to make themselves, or any part of the community, masters, or arbitrary disposers of the lives, liberties or fortunes of the people”. (Second Treatise, Chapter 19). “He” (the supreme executive) “also acts contrary to his trust, when he either employs the force, treasure and offices of the society, to corrupt the representatives, and gain them to his purposes; or openly pre-engages the electors, and prescribes to their choice, such, whom he has by solicitations, threats, promises, or otherwise won them to his designs, and employs them to bring in such, who have promised beforehand, what to vote, and what to enact”. (Second Treatise, Chapter 19)


John Locke Resource Guide

Sources: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_locke html#AysGGKtYVPIYBHCT.99, http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/john-locke-natural-rights-to-life-liberty-and-property#ixzz2htSdVMPq

“But if a long train of abuses, prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel, what they lie under, and whither they are going, ‘tis not to be wondered, that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavour to put the rule into such hands, which may secure to them the ends for which government was at first enacted”. (Second Treatise, Chapter 19)

How are the ideas of Locke important to the History of American Government?

He expressed the view that government is morally required to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He explained the principle of checks and balances to limit government power. He favored representative government and a rule of law. He denounced tyranny. He insisted that when government violates individual rights, people should rebel against the government.

Thomas Jefferson rated Locke as the most important thinkers on liberty. Locke helped inspire Thomas Paine’s radical ideas about revolution and led to the writing of Common Sense. Locke inspired George Mason, who wrote the Bill of Rights. From Locke, James Madison drew his most fundamental principles of liberty and government. Locke’s writings were part of Benjamin Franklin’s self-education, and John Adams (the second president) believed that both girls and boys should learn about Locke. The French philosopher Voltaire called Locke “the man of the greatest wisdom.”


VALUES CHALLENGE

NAME: DATE:

Directions: Use the philosopher/document information sheet to answer the drawing conclusions questions below.

SECTION:

American Political Influences

Value Philosopher


BUILDING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

NAME: DATE:

Directions: Write in your class’s top five values in the chart below. Using your notes, identify which document or philosopher the specific value was taken from.

SECTION:

American Political Influences

Questions for the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights

1. What is it? (Work as a group to create a basic definition for your document)

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

2. When was it written? _______________________________________

3. Where was it written? _______________________________________

4. Why was it written?

___________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Questions for the works of Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau

1. Born (year): _______________________________________

2. Died(year): _______________________________________

3. Where were they from? _______________________________________

4. Name of Major Literary (written) work:

___________________________________________________________________________

5. One interesting fact about them:

___________________________________________________________________________


Constitution:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Part One: Background: Directions: Review before you start the activity

The Framers, men who were responsible for declaring Independence from England and then for constructing the government that would run the new nation of America, used documents like the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution not only as tools to break away from England or to outline the plan for the government, but also to share their thoughts on what the values of a government should be, what rights were important to protect and the role it should play in the lives of the citizens it governed.

DATE:NAME:

DO NOWAmerican Political Influences

Part Two: Values Identification Challenge:Directions: Read the following selections from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Using the chart below each reading, pull out the values you think the Framers were highlighting and explain why you believe those values are important using the basic argument format; Claim + Reason= Basic Argument


Value (Something that is important for the government to do)

Reason It Is Important

Value (Something that is important for the government to do)

Reason It Is Important

Declaration of Independence:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.”


NAME:

DO NOWAmerican Political Influences

DATE:

EVIDENCE SCAVENGER HUNT

NAME: DATE:

Directions: Students will race to find textual evidence and analyze how the text supports their claim.

Each team will receive:• 1 point for completing each round• 2 points for finishing the round first• 3 points for the highest quality text

evidence and analysis

The High Quality ChecklistDo your answers do ALL of the following things?

Totally support/disprove your claimAnalysis draws logical and clear connections between your claim and evidenceWritten correctly with proper spelling and punctuationProvide a clear link for the reader between your claim, evidence and analysis

Claim Text Evidence Analysis

ROUND 1

ROUND 2

The most important idea expressed by this document/philosopher was ________________

The ideas of ________ (document or philosopher directly affected American Political thinking because ________________

SOAPBOX DEBATE

Opening Statement Requirements:1. Number your reason1-32. Create tag lines for each (3-5 word summary of a reason)3. A quote from multiple texts

Notes:

Worksheet

My Opening Statement:


English Bill of Rights Information Sheet · 2013-11-13 · • Quote English Bill of Rights:...

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