Topic 1.4 and 2.1:  How did the documents, ideas, and traditions of Great Britain influence the North American English colonists views about the structure and powers of government?

• 1.4 Key Terms: majority rule, compromise, citizen, free enterprise system,

• 2.1 Key Terms: limited government, representative government (republicanism), Magna Carta, due process, Petition of Right, English Bill of Rights, charter, proprietary, bicameral.

Big Question:

1. Identify the documents that influenced the founders views on government.

2. Describe what the foundational documents say about two of the following ideas

   • common law

   • constitutionalism

   • ordered government

   • limited government

   • representative government

   • due process

3. Explain the impact that these two ideas had on our own Constitutional government. 

Notes from class:

There are 3 kinds of Colonial Governments: Royal, Proprietary, & Charter. 

· Royal – subject to direct control of the Crown.  

· Proprietary – Organized by a proprietor (person to whom the King grant’s land to)

· Charter – Self governing colonies based on charters (a written grant of authority) given by the king. 

English Colonies inherited English Common Law 

• Colonies were controlled by England, and thus everyone was aware of the ideas of government they inherited from English Common Law

  • Believed in limited government, that people had natural rights, and government can’t infringe.

  • Representative government and government serves the people.

Why did they believe this?

• 893: King Alfred the Great’s Dom Bok

  • In 893 AD, King Alfred the Great issued the Domboc, a legal code that stated that all people, regardless of status, should be judged equally by the law.

  •  "Doom very evenly! Do not doom one doom to the rich; another to the poor! Nor doom one doom to your friend; another to your foe!"[1] This reflects Mosaic Law, which says "You shall do no injustice in judgment! You shall not be partial to the poor; nor defer to the great! But you are to judge your neighbour fairly!" (Leviticus 19:15).

• 1215: Magna Carta

  • King John’s military campaigns and heavy taxes frustrated parliament and the people. So they wanted to reign in his absolute power.

  • 1628: Petition of Right: 

    • Charles was fighting the 30 years war. Wanted 70000 lbs, but only got 112000. He later decided to have “forced loans” without parliament approval and anyone who didn’t pay would be thrown in jail

    • 400 years later, Charles I asked for more taxes and Parliament refused to give it to him.

  • 1689 – English Bill of Rights

    • William of Orange ascended the throne after the Kingless Decade in the Glorious Revolution. Parliament had defeated the king and laid some law down to prevent any future abuses.

  • “The object of the Declaration of Independence … [was] not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.”  –Thomas Jefferson, 1825

Rights given by Documents:

•  The Magna Carta – 1215 

  • Limited government

• The Petition of Right – signed by Charles I in 1628.

  • Recover property taken by crown (i.e. sue government)

• No taxation without representation

  • The English Bill of Rights – In 1689  

• Freedom to petition, freedom to trial, taxes cannot be passed without consent of parliament

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