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Unit Title- Development of Modern Political Thought Part One
CA Standard(s) covered Part 1 10.1 Students relate the moral and ethical principles in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, in
Judaism, and in Christianity to the development of Western political thought.
Skills: Information acquisition, Vocabulary building, Cornell PERSIA Notetaking, Geography
Approximate completion date
Assignments that are designated Class work on the Assignment Outline are due the day they are posted
Assignments that are designated Homework on the Assignment Outline are due the following day they are posted.
Any assignment turned in after Five days from when it was posted, will be considered late and will not be graded
Assignments with a Specific Deadline are due on that specific date. Each day that it is late will have a 10 to 20% deduction of
possible points
Assignment Title
Assignment
Type
Point
Value
Skill(s) to be
Mastered or
Practiced
Geography Skills
Information
Acquisition, Critical
Thinking
Reading
Interpretation,
Critical Thinking
World Geography
The Renaissance
Assessment Quiz
Worksheet
20
10
Hammurabi's Code
Activity
20
Athenian Democracy
DBQ
Close Read
15
Information
acquisition,
Formative
Assessment
The Roman Republic
Worksheet Chart
15
The Ten
Commandments
Worksheet
10
Principles of Judaism
and the Rise of
Christianity
Worksheet
10
Sources of Democratic
Tradition Word Search
Why Queen Elizabeth
is still Queen Elizabeth
Sources of Democratic
Tradition – Great
Britain
Worksheet
15
Worksheet
10
Worksheet Chart
15
Roots of the West Notes
20
Assignment Outline
Cornell PERSIA
Notes
Lesson Organizer
Unit Test
Exam
50
Information
acquisition,
Formative
Assessment
questions
Information
acquisition,
Formative
Assessment
Information
acquisition,
Formative
Assessment
Concept and
Vocabulary Review
Information
acquisition,
Information
acquisition,
Formative
Assessment
Formative
Assessment
Formative
Assessment Quiz
Summative
Assessment
Total
20
Specific
Deadline
Assignment
Alternative
One Time Retake on Quiz
Find a current city law or
ordinance and rewrite it as if it
was current in the time of
Hammurabi. Should be written
in current legal language.
Create a chart comparing the
ideas of Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle-specifically the role
of leaders in the government
and the role of citizens in the
government
Create a Compare and
Contrast Chart comparing the
powers of the Roman Senate
to the United States Senate
Notes
No Retakes on Exams
Unit Terms to know
Unit People and Events to know Essential Questions to know
Law
Duty
Faith
Reason
City-state
Consul
Dictator
Veto
Clergy
Anarchy
Apostle
Aristocracy
Constitution
Covenant
Democracy
Ethics
Legislature
Monarchy
Monotheism
moral
Polytheism
Republic
Senate
Tyranny
Hammurabi
Cleisthenes
Pericles
Socrates
Aristotle
Plato
Alexander the Great
Jesus of Nazareth
Moses
Julius Caesar
William the Conqueror
The Magna Carta
English Bill of Rights
What form of government(s) did the GrecoRoman cultures develop?
What important democratic ideas did the JudeoChristian culture promote through its ethical view
of the world?
How did ancient philosophers influence early
modern thought?
How did democracy arise in ancient Greece?
What principles did the English Bill of Rights
establish?
The Renaissance
The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic
transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. It marks the period between the end of the Middle Ages and the start of
the Modern Age. The Renaissance is usually considered to have begun in the 14th century in Italy and the 16th century in northern
Europe. Renaissance is a French word that literally means rebirth. Rebirth is used in two ways. First, it means rediscovery of
ancient classical texts and ideas and their use in the arts and sciences. Second, it means that the results of these intellectual
activities created a revitalization of European culture.
Most historians believe that the Renaissance of the 15th century in Italy, which spread through the rest of Europe, represented a
reconnection of the west with classical antiquity, the absorption of knowledge—particularly mathematics—from Arabic world, the
return of experimentalism, an explosion of the spread of knowledge brought on by printing and the creation of new techniques in
art, poetry and architecture. This period shows Europe emerging from a long period as a backwater part of the world, and the rise
of commerce and exploration. The Italian Renaissance is often labelled as the beginning of the "modern" age.
The Renaissance has no set starting point or place. It happened gradually at different places at different times and there are no
defined dates or places for when the Middle Ages ended. The starting place of the Renaissance is almost universally believed to be
in Northern Italy, especially the city of Florence. One early Renaissance figure from the city of Florence, is the poet Dante, the first
writer to embody the spirit of the Renaissance.
The author Petrarch is another early Renaissance figure. He concluded that the height of human accomplishment had been reached
in the Roman Empire and the time in between was a period of decay which he labeled the Dark Ages. Petrarch saw history as
social, art and literary advancement, and not as a series of set religious events. Re-birth meant the rediscovery of ancient writings
of the Greeks, Romans and other civilizations. These new ideas from the past triggered the coming advancements in art, science
and other areas.
The Renaissance spread north out of Italy being adapted and modified as it moved. It first arrived in France, imported by King
Francis I after his invasion of Italy. Francis imported Italian art and artists, including Leonardo Da Vinci and at great expense he
built ornate palaces. From France the ideas of the age spread to the Low Countries and Germany, and finally to England and
Scandinavia by the late 16th century. In these areas the Renaissance became closely linked to the turmoil of the Protestant
Reformation and the art and writing of the German Renaissance.
In England, the Elizabethan era marked the beginning of the English Renaissance. It saw writers such as William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, and Edmund Spenser, as well as great artists, architects (such as Inigo Jones) and composers
such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, and William Byrd. In these northern nations the Renaissance would be built upon and
supplanted by the thinkers of The Enlightenment in the seventeenth century.
1 What does the term Renaissance mean?
2. What types of ideas were rediscovered or created during the Renaissance?
3. What civilizations influenced the ideas of Renaissance thinkers?
4. Where did the Renaissance begin?
5. How did the Renaissance change Europe?
6. Suppose the Renaissance never happened, how might the world be different today?
Hammurabi’s Code
Hammurabi was a ruler in Sumeria in the 1700’s B.C.E., which is now the modern countries of Iran and Iraq. Starting when he
was about 29 years old, he began conquering one city after another. Eventually, he conquered most of his “modern” world. He
wanted to make sure that all the laws of his empire were understood and followed in all regions of the empire, so he had his laws
carved into stone pillars, called steles, and placed in the cities. One of the steles was found in the city of Susa in the early 1900’s.
It currently can be found in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
The laws in Hammurabi’s Code are revisions of earlier laws. Hammurabi put them together, and had them written down for all to
see. Everyone knew what the law was, so no one had an unfair advantage over another. This is the legacy of Hammurabi.
1. Choose the 6 Codes that interest you the most.
2. Fold your paper as you see below:
3.
4.
5.
Write each of your chosen Codes at the top of its own box.
Draw the action taken in the Code in the middle of the box.
Translate the Code to modern everyday English in the bottom of the box
Hammurabi’s CODE OF LAWS -- 1750 B.C.
1. If a man bring and accusation against another man, charging him with murder, but cannot prove it, the accuser shall be put to
death.
6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing
from him shall be put to death.
14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.
21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.
22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community,
and . . . on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.
25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and
take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.
48. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of
water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.
53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be
flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has
caused to be ruined.
102. If a merchant entrust money to an agent (broker) for some investment, and the broker suffer a loss in the place to which he
goes, he shall make good the capital to the merchant.
104. If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any other goods to transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and
compensate the merchant therefore. Then he shall obtain a receipt form the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.
109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the
tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
115. If any one have a claim for corn or money upon another and imprison him; if the prisoner die in prison a natural death, the
case shall go no further.
168. If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and declare before the judge: "I want to put my son out," then the judge shall
examine into his reasons. If the son be guilty of no great fault, for which he can be rightfully put out, the father shall not put him
out.
195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be cut off.
196. If a man destroy the eye of another man, his eye shall be destroyed.
197. If a man break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
199. If a man put out the eye of another man's slave, or break the bone of that man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of a man of his own rank, his teeth shall be knocked out.
206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall swear, "I did not mean to injure him," and pay the
physicians.
DBQ:
Athenian Democracy
Historical Context
Democracy is an weird idea. There is always someone in charge; someone in power. Why on earth would
they give up that power to let people rule themselves democratically? Democracy developed first in Athens
and the Athenians knew it; they were proud of it. Athens was also unique in that they had philosophers
(professional thinkers and problem solvers) who would question the purpose of government and the role of
the individual in society. Athenians were also fortunate that they had leaders who believed in the power of
democracy and created some of the first laws to protect individual rights.
Document One
This quotation is from the philosopher Socrates, who lived in Athens from about 470 to about 399 B.C.E. He
also was the teacher of the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
1. What was Socrates suggesting about each person’s individual life in this quote?
Document Two
This quotation is from the philosopher Aristotle, who lived and taught in Athens from 384 B.C.E. to 322
B.C.E. He not only questioned the purpose of government, but also what types of people could participate in
the government.
Since human reason is the most godlike part of human nature a life guided by human reason is superior to
any other…For man this is the life of reason since the faculty of reason is the distinguishing characteristic of
human beings.
Aristotle
2. What did Aristotle mean by the above quote?
Document Three
Now in all states there are three elements: one class is very rich, another very poor, and a third in a mean.
It is admitted that moderation and the mean are best, and therefore it will clearly be best to possess the gifts
of fortune in moderation; for in that condition of life men are most ready to follow rational principle. But he
who greatly excels in beauty, strength, birth, or wealth, or on the other hand who is very poor, or very weak,
or very much disgraced, finds it difficult to follow rational principle. [...]
the middle class is least likely to shrink from rule, or to be over ambitious for it; both of which are
injuries to the state. Again, those who have too much of the goods of fortune, strength, wealth, friends, and
the like, are neither willing nor able to submit to authority. […] a city ought to be composed, as far as
possible, of equals and similars; and these are generally the middle classes. […]
And this is the class of citizens which is most secure in a state, for they do not, like the poor, covet their
neighbors' goods; nor do others covet theirs, as the poor covet the goods of the rich; and as they neither plot
against others, nor are themselves plotted against, they pass through life safely. Wisely then did Phocylides
pray 'Many things are best in the mean; I desire to be of a middle condition in my city.
Aristotle
3. According to Aristotle, who is best suited to rule?
4. Why are those who “greatly excel in beauty, strength, birth, or wealth” unfit to rule?
5. Why are those who are “ very poor, or very weak, or very much disgraced ” unfit to rule ?
Document Four
The population in Athens, 430 B.C.E.
Adult male citizens with power to vote…………………………………40,000
Citizens without political power (women, children, some men)……… .80,000
Foreign born residents of Athens………………………………………..80,000
Slaves……………………………………………………………………250,000
Total population…………………………………………………….…...450,000
from Bertram Linder, A world History, 1979
6. According to this document, which sector (part) of the population was the largest? Which sector was the
smallest?
7. What do these two numbers tell us about who had the most power in Athenian society? (Was it a
democracy for everyone? Why or why not?)
Document Five
There are very few documents that recorded the events of the ancient Greeks. Of those few, the majority of
the documents that have survived were written by the Greek Historian Herodotus. He wrote on not only the
Greeks, but also the civilizations that the Greeks interacted with, such as the Persians.
The rule of the majority has the most beautiful name of all: equality under the law (isonomiê)…the
holders of magistracies are selected by lot and are held accountable for their actions. All deliberations are
in public. I predict that we will give up monarchy and replace it with democracy. For in democracy all
things are possible.
Herodotus, Greek Historian, author of Histories
8. Describe the style of government Herodotus prefers.
Document Six
Pericles was one of the most influential statesmen and generals of ancient Athens. He was a great supporter
of democratic ideals and the promotion of education, art and literature
Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than
imitators ourselves. Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a
democracy. Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that is why it is called a
democracy…As for social standing; advancement is open to everyone, according to ability. While every
citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we reward our most distinguished citizens by asking
them to make our political decisions. Nor do we discriminate against the poor. A man may serve his
country no matter how low his position on the social scale.
Excerpt from Pericles’ Funeral Oration, given to the Athenians in about 430 BC
9. According to the oration, what are the benefits of democracy?
10. What does Pericles say about equality?
Document Seven
In Euripides' Suppliant Women, Theseus, a legendary king of Athens and in the minds of the Athenians, one
of the founders of democracy, comments on the importance of written laws for equal justice.
When laws are written down both the weak and the wealthy have equal justice. It is possible for the
weaker citizens to use the same language to a prosperous man whenever he insults them. And having
justice on his side the lesser man wins in court.
11. According to Euripides what ensures equal justice for the rich and the poor?
Document Eight
Not everyone in Athens favored democracy, Plato, another student of Socrates was critical of how leaders
were chosen to represent the poor.
The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. . . .
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a
protector. . . .
having a mob entirely at his disposal he is not restrained from shedding the blood of kinsmen; . . .
he brings them into court and murders them . . .
at the same time hinting at the abolition of debts and partition of lands. . . .
After a while he is driven out but comes back in spite of his enemies a tyrant full grown.
Plato The Republic
12. Based on the reading, how would a democratic leadership lead to a tyrant taking control?
Document Nine
“Unless philosophers become kings in our cities or unless those who now are kings and rulers become
true philosophers so that political power and philosophic intelligence converge and unless those lesser
natures who run after one without the other are excluded from governing I believe there can be no end to
troubles my dear Glaucon in our cities or for all mankind. Only then will our theory of the state spring to
life and see the light of day at least to the degree possible.”
“And thus our State which is also yours will be a reality and not a dream only and will be administered in
a spirit unlike that of other States in which men fight with one another about shadows only and are
distracted in the struggle for power which in their eyes is a great good. Whereas the truth is that the State
in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed and the State
in which they are most eager the worst.”
Plato The Republic
13. According to Plato, what type of leader should a government (State) choose in order to avoid tyrants?
Document Ten
Cleisthenes was born into a noble Athenian family. He is credited with reforming the laws of ancient Athens
and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BC.
Results of Cleisthenes' reforms
Positive aspects
* Cleisthenes' reforms were important in breaking down old allegiances and jealousies. Athenians came to
see themselves as citizens of Athens first and foremost.
* The number of citizens now involved in government was considerable. Aside from engaging in the local
affairs of demes and the so-called tribes, all adult males, possibly about 30 000 at this time, were members
of the Athenian assembly, and 500 representatives from the 10 tribes constituted the council, where one year terms meant an annual turnover of members. Citizens came to see themselves involved at both a local
and state level.
* Regardless of birth or wealth, Cleisthenes' reforms guaranteed political rights in the election of public
officials.
* Although there were still large landowners, the country was essentially one of free peasant farmers and,
in the city, sturdily independent urban workers.
* The word demokratia had not yet been invented, but the foundations had been laid.
Lumb, Jerrrey.
Cleisthenes’ reforms and the development of Athenian democracy
14. How did Cleisthenes' reforms increase political participation and loyalty in ancient Athens?
Document Eleven
Outside of Athens, democracy was a foreign, strange idea. The largest rival city to Athens in ancient Greece,
was Sparta. Sparta's political and social system was based around its military structure.
…but as soon as they were seven years old they were to be enrolled in certain companies and classes;
where they all lived under the same order and discipline, doing their exercises and taking their play
together. Of these, he who showed the most conduct and courage was made captain; they had their eyes
always upon him, obeyed his orders, and underwent patiently whatsoever punishment he inflicted; so that
the whole course of their education was one of continued exercise of a ready and perfect
obedience…Reading and writing they gave them just enough to serve their turn; their chief care was to
make them good subjects, and reach them to endure pain and conquer in battle.
Excerpt from “The Lycurgan Reforms” by Plutarch.
15. How was the Spartan system of choosing their leaders different than the ideas of Aristotle and Plato?
Document Twelve
Herodotus relates a debate on three kinds of government: monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy from three
different Persian authors.
[Otanes says:] [Kings] are jealous of the most virtuous among their subjects, and wish their death; while
they take delight in the meanest and basest, being ever ready to listen to the tales of slanderers. A king,
besides, is beyond all other men inconsistent with himself. Pay him court in moderation, and he is angry
because you do not show him more profound respect --- show him profound respect, and he is offended
again, because (as he says) you fawn on him. But the worst of all is, that he sets aside the laws of the land,
puts men to death without trial, and subjects women to violence. The rule of the many [...] is free from all
those outrages which a king is wont to commit. There, places are given by lot, the magistrate is
answerable for what he does, and measures rest with the commonalty. […]
[Megabyzus says:] Megabyzus spoke next, and advised the setting up of an oligarchy: […] For there is
nothing so void of understanding, nothing so full of wantonness, as the unwieldy rabble. It were folly not
to be borne, for men, while seeking to escape the wantonness of a tyrant, to give themselves up to the
wantonness of a rude unbridled mob. The tyrant, in all his doings, at least knows what is he about, but a
mob is altogether devoid of knowledge; for how should there be any knowledge in a rabble, untaught, and
with no natural sense of what is right and fit? [...]let us choose out from the citizens a certain number of
the worthiest, and put the government into their hands. For thus both we ourselves shall be among the
governors, and power being entrusted to the best men, it is likely that the best counsels will prevail in the
state.
[Darius says:] All that Megabyzus said against democracy was well said, I think; but about oligarchy he
did not speak advisedly; for take these three forms of government --- democracy, oligarchy, and
monarchy --- and let them each be at their best, I maintain that monarchy far surpasses the other two.
What government can possibly be better than that of the very best man in the whole state? [...]
Herodotus
The Persians Reject Democracy
16. Why does Otanes think democracy is best?
17. In what way does Megabyzus criticize democracy?
18.Why does Darius think monarchy is best?
Summary Questions (At least one full paragraph per question)
What Athenian ideas about democracy, laws and the role of the individual are still important in our country?
How well do our national leaders fit Plato's idea about philosopher/kings ?
Sources of Democratic Tradition
The Roman Republic
After the ancient Greeks, the next major influential civilization was the Roman Empire. At it’s height of power, the Romans
controlled all of the area around the Mediterranean Sea, as far north as Great Britain, as far south as parts of northern Africa and as
far east as the Middle East. Our Alphabet, styles of architecture, and legal codes are only part of the legacy the Romans left the
world.
1.
What makes a “republic” different than a democracy?
Senate Organization
2. Senators
3.
Consuls
4.
Dictator
5.
Praetors
6.
Quaestors
7.
Aediles
8.
Tribunes
9.
Assemblies
Number of People
Powers
No Set Number
10. What were the Laws of the Twelve Tables, and how were they an important change in Roman law?
11. Who was Julius Caesar, and what changes did he bring to the Roman Republic?
12. What was the Pax Romana, and how did the Romans change Europe?
13. Why did the Roman empire need two systems of law?
14. What concepts from Roman law are still common in the United States ?
15. How did the ideas of the Greeks and Romans get preserved after the Roman empire collapsed?
The Ten Commandments
According to the Bible, it was in approximately 1300 BC that Moses received a list of ten laws directly from God. These laws were
known as the Ten Commandments and were transcribed as part of the Book of Moses, which later became part of the Bible. Many
of the Ten Commandments continue in the form of modern laws such as "thou shall not kill" (modern society severely punishes the
crime of murder), "thou shall not commit adultery" (modern society allows a divorce on this ground) and "thou shall not steal"
(modern society punishes theft as a crime). The Bible chapter that contains the Ten Commandments (Exodus) follows the
recitation of the Commandments with a complete set of legal rules, which are based on the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" legal
philosophy of Hammurabi's Code.
The first four Commandments are not related to justice specifically, but are purely religious statements. But others represent basic
principles of justice which have been adhered to by society since they were first published. For some societies, the Commandments
were a turning point where essential points such as "thou shall not kill" or "commit adultery" were accepted as law; behavior that
was from that point on formally and officially condemned. The Bible makes it quite clear that to transgress the Commandments
was punishable: "the soul that sinneth, it shall die", "sin is the transgression of the law" and "If you want to enter into life, keep the
commandments".
The Ten Commandments
1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other
gods before me.
2. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long.
6. Thou shall not kill.
7. Thou shall not commit adultery.
8. Thou shall not steal.
9. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
1.
How are the 10 Commandments similar to the Code of Hammurabi?
2.
Under the Code of Hammurabi, the level of punishment was easily explained, what is the level of punishment for the 10
Commandments?
3.
How has the United States used the 10 Commandments to model some its laws? Give examples
4.
Comparing the two law codes- the Code of Hammurabi and the 10 Commandments, which one would be more effective
in keeping a society peaceful? Why?
Sources of Democratic Tradition
Principles of Judaism and the Rise of Christianity
For Western civilization, which includes the United States, the influences of Judaism and Christianity is extremely important.
Not only have Jewish and Christian ideas contributed to individuals religious beliefs, but also ethics, music, art, and literature.
1.
According to Jewish tradition, what was God’s covenant with them?
2.
How did Jewish belief in “the chosen people” influence their creation of laws?
3.
What are ethics?
4.
How have ethics influenced the types of laws that we have?
5.
What made the laws of the Greeks and Romans different than those of the Christian and Jews?
6.
(p. 34) According to Christian tradition, what were the major differences of belief between Jews and Christians?
7.
How were Jewish authorities threatened by the ideas of Jesus of Nazareth ?
8.
Why was Christianity able to spread so quickly through the Roman empire?
9.
When did Christianity become an accepted religion in the Roman empire?
10. How was the early Christian church important for preserving the ideas of the Greeks and Romans?
11. How did the Roman Catholic church control the lives of average people in Medieval Europe?
Why Queen Elizabeth is still Queen Elizabeth
For over a thousand years, Great Britain has enjoyed a fairly stable system of government: a monarchy. Unlike other European
nations, the monarchy has remained in place. Throughout the centuries, the English government has been changed to keep current
with modern demands; two major changes in English government were the Magna Carta in 1215 and the Glorious Revolution in
1688.

The Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter) was a document sealed by King John of England on June 15, 1215, in which
he made a series of promises to his subjects that he would govern England and deal with his vassals according to the
customs of feudal law. Over the course of centuries, these promises have required governments in England, and in
countries influenced by English tradition (including the United States) to follow the law in dealing with their citizens. The
importance of the Magna Carta lies more in its symbolism than in its words. As a result, many modern rights have been
based on the Magna Carta, including habeas corpus (produce the evidence of a crime), and the principle of no taxation
without representation. Neither of these concepts existed in thirteenth century, but both became accepted as English law
during the early 1600s.

In the early 1600s, Parliament, (the English legislative assembly) sought a reduction of royal powers and they relied upon
the Magna Carta. It was cited as an authority in the Petition of Right of 1628. It was also cited in the debates that
culminated in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which prohibited the imprisonment of citizens without just cause. The use
of the Magna Carta in these debates gave it a renewed prominence as a guarantee of the rights of citizens. The Magna
Carta remains prominent and influential to this day.

The second event is connected to the Magna Carta in English history: The Glorious Revolution. It is a name given to the
events, which led to the removal of James the II from the English throne. Parliament had become convinced that James
planned to rule as an absolute monarch and to restore Catholicism to England. James' daughter Mary and her Protestant
husband, William of Orange of Holland, both in Europe at the time, were approached and recruited upon certain terms.
William’s army attacked in 1688; and James fled to France.

The terms by which William and Mary were placed upon the English throne were constitutionally enshrined in the Bill of
Rights (1690). It specifically provided that the crown cannot levy taxes without the consent of Parliament, nor keep a
standing army in times of peace; it also provided that Catholics could not be English sovereigns (in those days
Catholicism was more than just a religion; it was a way by which foreigners could intervene in the affairs of England.)
Incidentally, the English Bill of Rights did not list the innumerable rights of an Englishman, nor did it have to; but it did
confirm two important ones: the right to bear arms and the right to petition, which is the right to bring one's grievance
before a court of law. Without the power to raise taxes, the monarchy was effectively stripped of most of its political
power. The monarchy has effectively become a figurehead in English government, where the true power now lies with the
Parliament. The government is now no longer a plain monarchy, it is a constitutional monarchy, based on tradition and
legal codes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What were the basic promises of the Magna Carta ?
What idea of the Magna Carta was used by American leaders in calling for a revolution ?
What was the Glorious Revolution ?
What were the three major agreements of the English Bill of Rights?
What were the two major rights given to Englishmen in the English Bill of Rights?
Sources of Democratic Tradition
The original 13 colonies of the United States were originally British. From the British, we inherited the English language,
traditions, customs, and laws. Great Britain has had a very long and complicated history. It has been invaded and controlled by the
Romans, Vikings, and the Normans (Northern French), long before it became an independent country. All of the invading groups
left behind ideas that were eventually shipped over to the 13 colonies and became part of the United States.
Royal Figure/Event
1. William the
Conqueror
Change brought to England
2. Henry II
3. The Magna Carta
4. Development of
Parliament
5. James II
6. English Civil War
7. English Bill of
Rights
1.
What is an absolute monarchy?
2.
What is the idea of habeus corpus? Give an example of how we use the idea today.
3.
What ideas in the English Bill of Rights are part of the US Bill of Rights?
Ideas used in the United States