Transcript What shaped the founders thinking about government?

What shaped the founders
thinking about government?
Our English Roots
Many of the ideas that the Founding
Fathers used in creating the
government of the United States of
America came from documents or
ideas relating to (or in contrast of)
England
Feudal England (circa 1066) in very simple
terms
Nobles pledge to go to
war and fight for the king
Peasants give a portion
of their crops to their
vassal or
noble; Knights give their
military
services
King gives nobles power/land
Nobles give land to
knights
and peasants and vow
to
provide protection for
them
Feudalism
• The feudal system depended on a series of
agreements or contracts in order to be successful.
• Each contract included rights and responsibilities that
the parties owed to one another
• Feudalism introduces the idea of a system of
government based on a contract
• During the time of feudalism the monarchs started to
share power with the nobles.
The Magna Carta 1215
• Under feudalism it was custom for
the royalty to share power with the
nobility
• King John comes to power and did
not want to share anything!
• The nobles rebelled!
• Nobles forced King John to sign the
Magna Carta (also known as the
Great Charter) in 1215
• The most important early example of a
written statement of law that limits the
power of a ruler
Magna Carta
• The document protected the nobles privileges and upheld their
authority
• Granted certain rights to all landholders (including equal treatment
under the law)
• It guaranteed that no one would be above the law, not even the king
or queen (rule of law!)
• This was a big deal because:
• It introduced the concepts of limited government, rule of law, and
due process.
• It also helped create the nation’s Parliament (kind of like Congress in
the U.S.).
Creation of Parliament
• In 1258 the nobles forced the king to
create an advisory council called
Parliament
• Parliament is the lawmaking (or
legislative) body of the English
government
• It was made up of two houses:
• The House of Lords (represented the
nobles)
• The House of Commons (represented
people who owned large amounts of land)
Petition of Rights 1628
• The role of Parliament grew over the next centuries
• Parliament began to represent the interests of specific regions
• In 1628 the king tried to pressure the people for money without the
consent of Parliament (Parliament felt that this was very sneaky of him and
got upset!)
• As a result, Parliament forced the king to agree to the Petition of Rights of
1628.
• The petition stated that:
• king could only raise taxes with the consent of Parliament
• No longer allowed the king to house his soldiers in the homes of the
people (quartering)
• Strengthened the idea that English subjects had certain rights that the
government could not violate
The Glorious Revolution 1688
• In 1688 Parliament removed King James II from the throne and invited
his daughter Mary and her husband William to rule instead
• In doing so, Parliament demonstrated that it was now stronger than the
monarch
• This was a peaceful transfer of power (no war) and is called the Glorious
Revolution
• From this time on, no ruler would have more power than the
legislature.
• To clarify the new relationship, Parliament drew up the English Bill of
Rights
The English Bill of Rights 1689
• In 1689 Parliament passed the
English Bill of Rights.
• Gave certain rights to Parliament that
further limited the powers of the
monarch
• It said that Parliament must be
free and that the people have
the right to petition the king
• Petition: To formally request
something
English Bill of Rights Limits Monarch’s Power
• The English Bill of Rights said that the monarchy was no longer
allowed to:
• Collect taxes without the consent of Parliament
• Interfere with the right to free speech and debate in
Parliament
• Maintain an army in peacetime
• Prevent Protestants from having arms for their defense
• Require excessive bail or administer cruel punishment for
those accused or convicted of crimes
• Declare that laws made by Parliament should not be obeyed
The Virginia House of Burgesses
• The first permanent English settlement in North America was
Jamestown (1607)
• It was founded by a group of merchants from London with a charter
from King James I.
• In 1619 the colonists choose two representatives from each
county to meet with the governor and his council.
• These 22 men were called burgesses, and they formed the
House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly or
legislature, in the English colonies.
• The House of Burgesses had little power but it marked the beginning
of self government in colonial America
The Mayflower Compact 1620
• The Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth (Massachusetts) in 1620
• Their ship, The Mayflower, got blown off course and they
landed in territory not controlled by their charter so they
needed rules!
• They drew up a written plan for government (self-government)
• Forty-one of the men aboard signed the Mayflower Compact
which stated:
• Just and equal laws for the general good of the colony
• The signers would obey those laws
• Set up a direct democracy (established this tradition in
New England and you can see it through town meetings
where citizens meet to discuss and vote on important
issues)