The Magna Carta, John Locke, And The Mayflower Compact-The Creator Of Government

During the early years of our nation, there was struggle to finding a government that worked for the people. In the late 18th century philosophers began to strongly criticize the governments that were being dominated by monarchy and imperialism. The new beliefs in democracy, freedom for individuals of society, and the importance of human interactions led to the makings of the Constitution. Even though the ideas coming from everyone was far from an agreement, they were certain on their admiration of direct democracy and the restraints on that democracy. Their challenge in creating a government, was to strike a balance between liberty and order. Many documents built the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Declaration of Rights. For example, Second Treatise of Civil Government, The Spirit of Laws, Social Contract, The Virginia Declaration of Rights, and Common Sense.

In 1981, the nation was a loose confederation of states, which each operated like an independent country. The government had no judicial branch or executive officer. It lacked the authority to enforce its requests for money or troops from states. Since recently earning independence, the founders and public sought to protect the following in the Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, the right to not be subject to unreasonable seizures or searches, the right to not be forced to quarter soldiers, the right to due process of the law, the right to a fast and public trial by jury with counsel, the right to a civil trial by jury, the right to not be subjected to excessive bail and cruel punishment, and protection of state’s rights. Current protections and responsibility of states and Americans found in the U.S. Constitution were based upon John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, the Magna Carta, and the English Bill of Rights.

In comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution, it is evident that the basis of all three documents is the idea that all human beings possess God-given fundamental rights and that government is created to protect those rights. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, is the first of the three documents penned. This is important because it defined the rights of liberty and equality of all American citizens as outlined in John Locke’s natural law thesis (Martin, page 113). In addition to providing an itemized account of the grievances colonist’s held against King George III of England, it served to justify the colonist’s quest for independence and separation from British rule. The Declaration of Independence conveyed to the crown that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Founders’ of the New World understood that their pursuit of liberties and autonomy specified in the Declaration of Independence could not come to fruition without instituting decrees. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution, was written to replace the Articles of Confederation with a better defined series of stringent laws that would legally uphold the freedoms and privileges established in the Declaration of Independence. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in

From Aristotle to John Locke to Thomas Jefferson, the ideas of great philosophers influenced the foundations of the United States. When Jefferson began writing the Declaration of Independence, he wanted to make this new country based on the basic fundamentals. He wanted to base the country on what was considered the natural laws. Jefferson had many philosophical minds to ponder when writing the document, such as Aristotle and most importantly John Locke.

The United States Constitution has been heavily influenced by outside sources that took place throughout history. However, not all people know of these influences and their impact on our nation. In this work, we will look at just a few of these documents that shaped America into what it is today. These documents include the Magna Carta, which affected many of the rights Americans have today, the Social Contract, which is from a series of works shaping how people believed they had rights that could not be taken away, and the English Bill of Rights, which has to do with how much power the government gets and how it maintains that power.

During the medieval times Kings had absolute power and the Catholic Church made sure God help the King retain this power. During this time feudalism was the structure that shaped society. In the feudalism structure the people that work the land the poor got cero power and live at the mercy of the barons. Barons where the owners of the land that people where let to work and make really low amounts of money while the baron sells and exchange the goods produced by the land and makes a fortune. At the end of the day the land belongs to the king and the king taxes the barons and collects money from all the land making him very, very wealthy and powerful.

While reading the “The Second Treatise of Government,” you can notice and see that John Locke has a strong standing for civil rights as well as helping with the development of the Constitution of the United States. He states that the “consent of the governed,” is basically saying that communities are not put together by the divine right or ruled by. Paternal, familial, and political are types of powers that John Locke mentions that have all have unlike characteristics. He inspired others to believe in and want equal rights and democracy. John Locke talks about the state of nature, which basically states that no one has the power to be ruler of someone, as well as they are able to do what they want in a freely matter. In other words people are born just like anyone else that is born, and should have equally rights to property, health, and liberty, and that no one should have the power over anyone. Everyone should be able to live and enjoy his or her own freedom and wellbeing. However, the state of nature is not a guarantee to have natural laws, which could help with the protecting of one’s property. According to him having your own personal freedom was the true meaning of state of nature. John Locke thought that people were following his faith in human rationality through the declaration of Locke. John Locke states that if the government takes away from others for them to empower them then the people have right and opportunity to go against

The Magna Carta has been a standout amongst the most productive and important documents in history. English Nobles created this paper. They made it to limited the power of the king, protect peoples rights, due process, to show the king has to follow all the same laws the people on his land follow too and many others. The Magna Carta influenced the executive historical process that led to the Rule of Constitutional law, the development of the Common Law, Charters of Freedom and Gettysburg Address. Notably, the U.S Constitution. The following quote from the U.S Constitution supports that is was influenced by the Magna Carta "no person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law." The Magna Carta's has become

The Magna Carta is a document written in 1215 to protect the citizens’ rights and properties against an oppressive king. But, the reason why the Magna Carta is so important is because it’s rules are so strong, it even has some influence on us today. Some rights from the Magna Carta are embedded into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights because “The colonists believed they were entitled to the same rights as Englishmen, rights guaranteed in the Magna Carta.” (Document 2). Americans used the Magna Carta during the American Revolution to inspire and justify action in liberty’s defense, and from this, they had thought that these rights were wonderful. On the other hand, the Magna Carta was extremely helpful towards the people longer ago because there were many kings who took their power for granted, for they took many of the citizens’ rights and things that they owned! Without the Magna Carta, kings and rules would possibly still be treating their citizens with no

The U.S. Constitution, drafted by the founding fathers at the constitutional convention, drew from several historical documents, ideas, and figures in order to “form a more perfect union.” Among these influences were the Magna Carta and English Bill of Rights, originating in England. However, the U.S. sought to differentiate from England, in order to be better than what they had recently gained independence from. In order to do so, the founding fathers referenced The Mayflower Compact, The Articles of Confederation, Social Contract Theory, Classical history, and Montesquieu. Through the inclusion of these ideas, the United States Constitution made improvements to Great Britain’s government system.

There were several events that influenced and inspired the colonists’ ways of composing a central government. For instance, the Magna Carta was a document that was the base of British justice and law. The Magna Carta achieves justice and law by declaring that the king and government officials were required to follow the same laws as British citizens. This idea inspired the U.S Bill of Right which brought new insight to an end of unchecked powers and protected elites. Similar to the Magna Carta was the constitutional document called the Petition of Right of 1628. The petition of Right of 1628 include the law that the a king could not raise taxes without consent from Parliament, quartering of soldiers was not required, and the right to habeas

Our country was built heavily on liberty. We take liberty for granted, but the founders of our country actually didn’t. They, as colonists of the British colonies, were not given the liberty we now have. They had no representation in their government, and sometimes unfair laws toward them were passed without their opinion. A well-known act of Parliament, the Townshend Acts, was an important law in colonial times, and it partly led to the revolution of the United States of America.

The Magna Carta, also known as The Great Charter, was the first step into people receiving the rights that they deserved. The King of England, King John was forced by his barons to sign the charter to establish that the monarch was no longer absolute and that the people were guaranteed a trial by jury and due process of law. King John is considered to be one of the worst kings in history. He was not in favor of the people, he was in favor of himself. He was such a greedy King who would penalize any baron who went against his wishes.

The Magna Carta is the most famous document in British history, being introduced and signed by King John in 1215. The Magna Carta opened the doors to democracy in England and America. The Magna Carta or the “Great Charter” has been hailed as the “sacred text” of liberty in the Western World. The Magna Carta set the foundation and basic ideas for modern democracy. It gave the people basic rights and abolished absolute monarchy for England. The Magna Carta provided and built the foundation for modern democracy with its premises the government guarantees basic rights for the people, established a basic rule of law and allowing a group to govern rather than an individual.

The Magna Carta stands as a start point for the freedom of speech, expression, and representation. The liberty granted in this text is used as a bridge for the start of independence. In this document, it states “that we have granted to God...have confirmed for us...the English Church shall be free,