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ROOTS OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. In this section, you’ll learn about the rights of English people set forth in the Magna Carta and later documents. These rights are the basis for the rights Americans enjoy today.
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In this section, you’ll learn about the rights of English people set forth in the Magna Carta and later documents. These rights are the basis for the rights Americans enjoy today.
A document called the Magna Carta, created in England in 1215, limited powers of the King. Over time, the rights it listed were guaranteed to all English people.
Magna Carta is an English charter originally issued in 1215. It was the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. Magna Carta influenced many common law documents and others, such as the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, and is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.
One of the most important English rights was the right to elect representatives to government. Parliament, England’s chief lawmaking body, was the colonists model for representative government.
James II (in Scotland known with the name James VII ; 14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of England, and Kingdom of Ireland. Many of his subjects distrusted his religious policies and autocratic tendencies, leading a group of them to depose him in the Glorious Revolution. He was replaced not by his Roman Catholic son, James Francis Edward, but by his Protestant daughter and son-in-law, Mary II and William III, who became joint rulers in 1689.
Edmund Andros was a Royal Governor appointed by King James II to take over the New England Colonies. Andros angered the colonists by ending their representative assemblies and allowed town meetings to be held only once a year.
Sir Edmund Andros (December 6, 1637 - February 24, 1714) was an early colonial governor in North America, and head of the short-lived Dominion of New England. Andros was not a popular governor, and at one point was placed under arrest and forced to return to England.
In 1688 Parliament usurped the power of James II and replaced him with William and Mary as the new monarchs of England. This change in leadership was called England’s Glorious Revolution.
FOR UNDERSTANDING QUICK CHECK
1) Declaration of Independence 2) The English a Bill of Rights 3) Parliamentary Papers 4) Magna Carta A document called the______, created in England in 1215, limited powers of the King.
1)Parliament 2) The Royal Court 3) Congress 4) The House of Burgesses ______ was England’s chieflawmaking body.
1) the right to choose a new king or queen. 2)the right to elect representatives to government. 3) the right against self-incrimination. 4) the right to bear arms. One of the most important English rights was
1) John Peter Zenger 2) Edward Anderson 3)Edmund Andros 4) John Smith ______ was a Royal Governor appointed by King James II to take over the New England Colonies.
1) Glorious Revolution 2) Workers Rebellion 3) Grand Experiment. 4) Time of Troubles The challenge to the leadership of James II in 1688 was called England’s ______.
1) Queen Elizabeth II 2) Oliver Cromwell 3) a democratic government 4) William and Mary In 1688 Parliament usurped the power of James II and replaced him with______.
William and Mary agreed in 1689 to uphold the English Bill of Rights, an agreement that respected the rights of English citizens and of Parliament.
The English Bill of Rights 1689 is largely a statement of certain positive rights that its authors considered that citizens and/or residents of a constitutional monarchy ought to have. It asserts the Subject's right to petition the Monarch and the Subject's right to bear arms for defense. It also sets out certain constitutional requirements where the actions of the Crown require the consent of the governed as represented in Parliament.
Provisions of the English Bill of Rights: • The king or queen could not cancel laws or impose taxes, unless Parliament agreed. • Free elections and frequent meetings of Parliament, must be held. • Excessive fines and cruel punishment were forbidden. • People had the right to complain to the king or queen in Parliament without being arrested.
After the Glorious Revolution, the Massachusetts colonists regained some self-government, but still had a Royal Governor appointed by the crown.
During the first half of the 1700s, England interfered very little in colonial affairs. The hands-off policy was called salutary neglect.
Salutary (benign) neglect was an undocumented, though long-standing, British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws meant to keep the American colonies obedient to Great Britain. Prime Minister Robert Walpole stated that “if no restrictions were placed on the colonies, they would flourish” This policy, which lasted from about 1607 to 1763, allowed the enforcement of trade relations laws to be lenient. Walpole did not believe in enforcing the Navigation Acts, established under Oliver Cromwell and Charles II and designed to force the colonists to trade only with England. King George III ended this policy through acts such as the Stamp Act and Sugar Act, causing tensions between England and the colonies.
Colonists moved toward gaining freedom of the press, when in 1735 John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, stood trial for printing criticism of New York’s governor and won by claiming that people had the right to speak the truth.
A notable part of the case is that Andrew Hamilton (John Peter Zenger’s attorney) challenged the constitutionality of the crimes in which his client was being prosecuted for. It was one of the first times in American history in which a lawyer challenged the laws rather than the innocence of his clients. The jurors were stunned and didn't know how to, or even if they were allowed to, address whether the law itself was "legal."
FOR UNDERSTANDING QUICK CHECK
1) Magna Carta 2)English Bill of Rights 3) Constitution 4) Mayflower Compact William and Mary agreed in 1689 to uphold the______, an agreement that respected the rights of English citizens and of Parliament.
1) The king or queen could not cancel laws or impose taxes, unless Parliament agreed. 2) Only parliament could appoint Royal Governors to the colonies. 3)Excessive fines and cruel punishment were forbidden. 4)People had the right to complain to the king or queen in Parliament without being arrested. All of the following were provisions of the English Bill of Rights except:
1) self-government, an Assembly 2) captured lands, a Royal Governor 3)self-government, a Royal Governor 4) captured lands, a Regent After the Glorious Revolution, the Massachusetts colonists regained some ______ but still had ______ appointed by the crown.
1) laissez-faire capitalism 2) salutary neglect 3) the Glorious Revolution 4) salutatory negligence England’s hands-off policy with regard to the colonies was called ______.
1) John Zenger 2) Edmund Andros 3)George Whitefield 4) Jonathan Edwards In 1735 ______ stood trial for printing criticism of New York’s governor and won by claiming that people had the right to speak the truth.
