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constitution
Magna Carta - Brutus Essays
25
History
12th Grade
03/08/2011

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Term
Magna Carta
Definition
  • (1215)
  • Great Charter
  • written by Barons in Runnymede, England
  • limited to the perogatives of the Barons
  • general principle that the King accepted limitations on his rule
  • the king was not above the law
  • illustrates Compact Theory and limited government
  • protections for the English church, petitioning the king, freedoms forced from quarter of troops and unreasonable searches
  • found in 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th amendments to the Constitution
Term
Mayflower Compact
Definition
  • (1620) written by William Bradford at Cape Cod, MA
  • declaration of the passengers' intention to start the first colony in northern VA
  • 41 of 102 passengers signed it
  • based on Biblical covenating tradition
  • expressed civi justice, equality, and responsibilities of citizenship
  • not a governing document
  • 1st basis for written laws in colonies
  • expressed necessity of consent of the governed
  • precursor the Consitution
Term
Petition of Right
Definition
  • (1628) 17th century
  • King Charles I broke up Parliament
  • Sir Edward Coke presented Petition of Right
  • cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that law was given to people not king himself
  • focused on Charles's vilations of the law
  • -which were denying people's due process, protectino from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, right to trial by jury
  • king accepted petition but broke his word again soon
  • result was a civil war and beheading of king in 1649
Term
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Definition
  • (1639) 1st written constitution in N.Am
  • written by Puritan clergymen
  • remained colony's law until 1662
  • preamble, 11 orders, named "God's requirement" for way of governing
  • proided for election of a governo rand 6 magistrates
  • lawmaking, executive and judicial power and guidelines for representation and paying taxes
Term
Massachusets Body of Liberties
Definition
  • (1641) written by a Puritan leader to assist the General Court
  • one of 1st written governing documents in New England
  • liberty is basis for tranquility among churches and states
  • many of limints on government power listed were included in the Magna Carta or out of British common law
  • due process, free enterprise and equality
  • rights to habeus corpus and rules for representation
  • death penatly for murder, adultery, homosexuality, direct blasphemy, witchcraft, or woshiping other gods also provided in document
Term
Leviathan
Definition

  • (1651) comeplete titel is Leviathan or the matter, frome and power of a common-wealth ecclesiasticall and civill.
  • author is Thomas Hobbes - poeople naturally love liberty as well as power over others
  • "warre of every man against every man"
  • people trade their natural freedom which leads only to war in exchange for the peace provided by their ruler
  • Hobbes assered that a powerful monarch was the source of political authority, and he did not acknowledge the right of the people to overthrow a government which failed to protect them

Term
English Bill of Rights
Definition

  • (1689) written as an act of Parliament
  • part of "Glorious Revolution" - King and Queen William and Mary of Orange accepted it
  • an English precursor of the Consitution
  • limited the power of the English sovereign
  • Catholics banned from the throne and kings and queens had to swear oaths to mainatin Protestantism as oficial religion of England
  • asserted that Englishmen had certain in alienable civil and political rights
  • monarchs couldn't establish their own courts or act as judges themselves
  • Free Speech in Parliament was also protected
  • roots of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6,th and 8th Ammendments

Term
Second Treatise of Civil Government
Definition

  • (1689) John Locke argued that men are by nature free and have an equality of rights
  • Locke asserted that lal people, regardless nationality, are born with the same rigthts
  • rights are not "granted" by governemnts but from nature of God
  • governments exist to protect, not grant, natural rights
  • form of compact theory
  • strongly influenced the Founders including Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Otis
  • the Dec of Ind, and George Mason's Viriginia Dec. of Rights echoed the language of this document

Term
The Spirit of the Laws
Definition

  • (1748) Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), a French philosopher and juricsc, wrote this
  • pointed to the English Bill of Rights as an ideal model of government
  • best form of govt combine monarchy with administrative authority made of distinct and separated powers (the leg, exec, and judicial) with checks and balances
  • punishments shoujld not be excessive, should be moderate and fir the crime
  • citizens should respect the beliefs of others and practice religious toleration
  • James Madison influenced by Montesquieu and used many of the ideas in Virigina Plan and Consitution and Bill of Rights

Term
Albany Plan of Union
Definition

  • (1754) first formal proposal for a permanent union of the 13 colonies
  • union of the colonies under a single central government, although each colony would preserve its local independence
  • Albany Congress adopted Franklin's plan but colonial assemblies rejected it because it encroached on their powers
  • British govt also rejected, fearing it would be too great a stride towards indep.

Term
"Give Me Libery or Give Me Death"
Definition

  • (1775) by Patrick Henry at St. John's Church in Richmond where Virginia colonial legislature was meeting
  • Henry called on the legislature to take up arms and resistance against British tyranny
  • he spoke w/o notes and no transcribed speech
  • he urged countrymen to fight the British
  • argued repeated violation of their rights
  • he concluded " I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

Term
Commentaries on the Laws of England
Definition

  • (1765-1769) Sir William Blackstone an English jurist, wrote thie treatise on English common law tradition into a clear system
  • 4 volumes- Rights of Persons (structure of the legal system), The Rights of Things (property rights), Private Wrongs (torts of civil action), and Public Wrongs (criminal law)
  • Blackstone believed that law existed to protect peoples' lives, liberty, and property
  • influenced the Founders
  • his influence is evident in the Cons. and Bill of Rights

Term
Letters form a Farmer in Pennsylvania
Definition

  • (1767-1768) believed to be written by John Dickinson
  • first appeared separately in the newspapers and then published in a single pamphlet
  • the Letters urged to Eng. but also called on the colonists to use moderation and work towards reconiliation in response to British policies (ex. Stamp Act)
  • argued that British economic policies towards colonies were reducing Americans to slavery

Term
Common Sense
Definition

  • (1776) by Thomas Paine as a support of Patriot cause
  • used clear, plain language, rallied the colonists to support the break from British
  • denounced the monarchy, argued that people are born in to a state of equality
  • claimed that there are no natural rulers among men
  • read by as great a proportion of the population as watches the Superbowl today
  • Congress apporved the Dec. of Ind. months later, Common Sense is believed to have greatly influenced the support for the cause
  • Paine denoted all his earnings from sale of the pamphlet to the revol. cause

Term
Lee Resolution
Definition

  • (1776) given to Richard Henry Lee's proposal that the colonies declare ind. from Eng.
  • also called for creating foreign allianced and developing a plan for confederation and distributing in to the colonies
  • treason in the eyes of the British King
  • congress voted to declare in on July 2nd, 1776
  • words of the Lee Res. became part of the closing lines of the dec. of ind. 

Term
Decleration of Independence
Definition

  • (1776) Congress debated ind. for several days
  • a committee made up of John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, Rober R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson was given the job of drafting a formal dec. of ind.
  • the Committee of Five gave the task of writing to Jefferson
  • dec. contained 1: a general statement of natural rights theory and the purpose of govt. 2: a list of grievances against the British King, 3: the dec. of ind. from England
  • more than 20 yrs. later 2, 3, 4, 6 ammendments to the cons. would contain prohibitions against the govt to prevent the same forms of tyranny as were listed as grievances
  • his writings was influenced by George Mason's Viriginia dec. of rights and John Locke's Two Treatises of Govt.
  • draft was edited by Franklin and Adams
  • several changes were made including remoivng references condemning slavery
  • adopted on July 4th
  • signed by John Hancock that day, the rest 2 months later

Term
Virginia Decleration of Rights
Definition

  • (1776) written by George Mason declaring that all people are born with an equality of natuarl rights and that govt. power is derived from the people
  • it's still part of the state's cons.
  • guarantees rights of a free press, property rights, speedy jury trials, and religious liberty
  • included protections against self-incrimination, excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishments, unreasonable search and seizure
  • states that it's the duty of all citizens to practice justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue
  • appeared 3 weeks before the Dec. of Ind.
  • drew upon John Locke's philosophy and foreshadowed the Dec. of Ind.
  • James Madison used this as a model for drafting the U.S. Bill of Rights

Term
Articles of Confederation
Definition

  • (1781) first governing doc. of U.S.A.
  • adopted by the 2nd Continental Congress in 1771 and ratified by the states in 1781
  • contain 13 articles and a conclusion
  • signed by 48 people from the 13 states
  • include Sam Adams, Dickinson, Elbridge Garry, Hancock, Richard Henry Lee, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Roger Sherman, and John Witherspoon
  • created an association of sovereign states
  • most important piece of legislation that the Confederation Congress enacted was the Northwest Ordinance
  • Congress approved a plan to revise the Articles

Term
Annapolis Convention Proceedings
Definition

  • (1786) more and more people were becoming aware of the art. of conf.
  • major concern was that the weak central govt didn't have the power to make uniform commercial laws for the contry
  • reps from Virginia and Maryland met at George Washington's Mt. Vernon to discuss navigation of the Potomac River, calling for a convention to be held in Annapolis to discuss commercial navigation
  • held in sept of 17786
  • 5 of 13 states sent reps
  • the convention decided to call a future convention for the purpose of revising the art. of conf.

Term
Consitutional Convention
Definition

  • (1787) 55 people from 12 of 13 states (not inc. Rhode Island) met in Phil. to revise the Art. of Conf.
  • soon, the goal was to write a complete new plan of govt.
  • this meeting was called the Cons. Convention
  • the delegates elected Washington to preside over the meeting
  • Viriginia Plan was presented 
  • smaller states responded with the New Jersey Plan
  • the plan known as the Great Compromise was acceptable to just about all of the delegates
  • on sept 17, 1787 the Constitution of USA was completed and signed by 39 of the delegates, some left as conv. went on but 3 refused to sign it in protest
  • once 9 states ratified it in 1789 it was the law of the land for those states

Term
Northwest Ordinance
Definition

  • (1787) the most important piece of legislation enacted by Congress under the art. of conf.
  • the U.S. claimed the Ohio territory after the 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the Rev. WAr
  • established policies for the creation of new states and the admitting of those states into the conf.
  • the law accelerated westward expansion
  • the law establisehd that all states would be equal regardless of when they were established
  • also addressed the equality of the rights of citizens of the new states within the rights of the states that had fought the Revolution
  • some fund. rights were listed including trial by jury, habeas corpus, due process, and religious freedom
  • excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishments were banned
  • slavery was also banned from new territories, though fugitive slaves who escaped to a new state would be returned to their masters

Term
Federalist No. 10
Definition

  • (1787) written by James Madison, defended the form of republican govt. proposed by the Cons.
  • ciritics of the Cons. argued that the proposed federal govt was too large and would be unresponsive to the people
  • in respone, Madison explained the majority rule v. minority rights in this essay
  • great number of fractions and diversity would avoid tyranny
  • groups would be forced to negotiate and compromise among themselves

Term
Federalist No. 51
Definition

  • 1788, in this paper, Madison explaines and defends the checks and balances system in the Const.
  • each branch of govt. is framed so that its power checks the power of the other 2 brances
  • Madison also discusses the way republican govt. can serve as a check on the power of fractions, and the tyranny of the majority
  • Madison's political theory as expressed in this Federalist Paper demonstrates the influence of Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws on the Founders

Term
Federalist Paper No. 70
Definition

  • 1788, in this paper, Alexander Hamilton argued for a strong executive leader, as provided for by the Cons. as opposed to the weak exec. under the Art. of Fed.
  • though some called for an executive council, Hamilton defended a single executive as "far more safe" because "wherever two or more people are engaged in any common...pursuit, there is always danger of difference of opinion...bitter disssensions are apt to spring."
  • he also arugued that a singe exec. would be watched "more narrowly" and vigilantly by the poeple than a group of people would be

Term
Brutus Essays
Definition

  • the Brutus writings were a series of 16 essays written btwn 1787 and 1790 that argued against the ratification of the US Cons.
  • the Brutus essays conuntered the Fed. Papers, which argued in favor of ratifying the Const.
  • some believe that New York govn. Robert Yates was the author
  • he chose the pen name Brutus in honor of Roman Statesman Julius Caesar
  • Brutus had several specific objections to the proposed fed. Cons. 
  • he believed it would infringe peoples' liberty
  • he argued that a bill of rights would be needed
  • he thought the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I gave Congress too much power

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