CHAPTER 5 • SECTION 2
The Magna Carta was the document that guaranteed English political and
civil liberties. It limited the king’s power by guaranteeing rights to nobles
and “freemen,” or those not bound to a master. Their property could not be
seized by the king or his officials. They could not be taxed, unless a council
prominent, or important and well-known, men agreed. They could not be
of prominent
put on trial based only on an official’s word, without witnesses. They could
be punished only by a jury of their peers, people of the same social rank.
More About . . .
Taxation
One reason the nobles in England forced
King John to sign the Magna Carta was
because he had regularly increased taxes
and seized people’s land to help pay for
wars in Europe. The Magna Carta forced
the king to confer with representatives of
the people about how much tax money the
government really needed to accomplish its
tasks. The same conflict over taxes would
become a central issue in the American
Revolution. Taxation remains an important
issue today as citizens debate the need for
and the amount of taxes to support the
government.
PRIMARY SOURCE
“
No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or
possessions, or exiled . . . nor will we proceed . . . against him . . . except
by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, translated in A Documentary History of England
”
Over time, the rights promised by the Magna Carta were gradually
expanded. One important right was the right to elect representatives to
government. The Magna Carta protected the rights of the people and remains
the foundation of modern American democracy.
Citizenship and History
CONNECT
TRIAL BY JURY
CONNECT
The Magna Carta promised that no free man would be punished for a
crime without being judged by “his equals”. By the 1700s, this phrase
had helped create a tradition of trial by jury in which jurors listen to the
evidence presented in a court and then debate before coming to
an agreement.
Citizenship and History
TRIAL BY JURY The definition of “peers”
or equals in the jury system has created
many court cases over the years. One of
the issues has been the racial composition
of the jury, especially in cases where the
defendant has been African American and
the jury has been all white. Legal counsel
has the right to refuse any jury member
for any reason other than race, religion, or
gender. Ask students what a jury of their
peers might look like. (Their peers would
likely be a reflection of their school class.)
Jurors are selected from various sources such as voting lists and tax
rolls. The Constitution states that jurors in a criminal trial (one that
determines the guilt or innocence of a person accused of a crime) must
be neutral regarding the case. In addition, a juror must be selected from
the community where the crime is supposed to have happened. Every
juror is questioned by both defense and prosecuting lawyers, and either
lawyer may reject a juror if he/she feels the juror would not serve fairly.
Set Up a Mock Jury Trial
1 Have one student accuse another of a crime and bring him or her to “trial.”
2 Let each student in your class write his or her name on a piece of paper
See Citizenship Handbook, page 300.
3
4
5
and put the names in a hat.
Select twelve jurors.
Have the jurors listen to the evidence during the trial.
Let the jury discuss the evidence and then vote to determine if the
defendant is guilty or innocent.
138 Chapter 5
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
138 • Chapter 5
Struggling Readers
English Learners
Paraphrase the Magna Carta
Vocabulary: Roots
Read aloud the first paragraph on this
page describing the rights guaranteed
by the Magna Carta. Pause to check
students’ comprehension by asking them
to paraphrase sentences or to define
potentially troublesome words such as
seized or bound. Then have students
monitor their own comprehension of
the rights by breaking them down into a
bulleted list.
Note that the term Magna in Magna
Carta translates as “great.” Explain that
“magni-” is a prefix in a variety of other
English words. Ask students to think of
other examples. (magnificent, magnify,
magnitude) Then discuss reasons why
the Magna Carta was termed the “Great
Charter.” (Possible Answer: It was an
important document—the first of its
kind—in England.)
Parliament and Colonial Government Parliament
Parliament, England’s lawmaking
body, was the colonists’ model for representative government. Parliament
had two houses. Members of the House of Commons were elected. Members
of the House of Lords were nonelected nobles, judges, and clergy.
English colonists in America did not want to give up the right to representative government. Because the king and Parliament were too far away to
manage every detail of the colonies, some self-government was allowed. In
all the colonies, the colonists formed their own elected assemblies—smallerscale versions of the House of Commons. Virginia’s House of Burgesses was
the first of these. The assemblies imposed taxes and managed the colonies.
The relationship between the assemblies and Parliament was awkward.
Although Parliament granted the colonists some self-government, it retained
ultimate authority. The colonists disliked many of the laws that Parliament
passed without their consent. Conflicts also arose when the king appointed
royal governors to rule some colonies on his behalf. These conflicts became
more intense in the late 1600s.
SEQUENCE EVENTS Describe how English rights were strengthened.
Connecting History
Expanding Liberty
Settlers in all the early
colonies had quickly
established representative
government. See Chapter 3,
pp. 65–73.
Answer: After the signing
of the Magna Carta in
1215, English rights were
slowly strengthened.
By the 18th century,
colonists had the right
to elect representatives
to government and to be
tried by a jury.
English Rights Threatened
KEY QUESTION How were colonial rights affected by political changes?
The political relationship between the assemblies and the English government caused tension on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition, the policies
of some kings of England threatened the rights of Englishmen everywhere.
Kings Limit Self-Government In the mid-1600s colonies like
Massachusetts were smuggling goods and ignoring the Navigation Acts. (See
Chapter 4.) When challenged, the people of Massachusetts claimed that
England had no right to make laws for them. In response, King Charles II
canceled their charter. The charter had given the colony
the right of self-government.
When Charles’s brother James became king in 1685,
he wanted to strengthen royal power. He also changed
the way the northern colonies were governed. James combined Massachusetts and the other Northern colonies
into one Dominion of New England, ruled by governor
Edmund Andros.
Andros Andros angered the colonists by ending
representative assemblies and limiting town meetings.
With their assemblies outlawed, some colonists refused
to pay taxes. Andros jailed the loudest protestors. At their
trial, they were told, “You have no more privileges left you
than not to be Sould [sold] for Slaves.”
The colonists sent Increase Mather to England to plead
with King James. (See One American’s Story on page 135.)
However, a revolution in England was underway that
changed the situation completely.
Why do you think
the colonists resented
Governor Andros (shown
below)?
Beginnings of an American Identity 139
INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES
CONNECT
to Art
CONNECT
to Language Arts
Royal Governor Protest Posters
Letter Protesting Andros’s Actions
Point out that Edmund Andros was actually
arrested by people in the colonies when King
James was deposed and that he often came into
conflict with colonial governments. Ask students
to prepare a protest poster against Andros and
his actions. The poster should use words and
images to graphically display his actions in
ending representative assemblies and limiting
the power of town meetings.
Ask students to imagine they lived in
the colonies at the time Andros ended
representative assemblies and limited the power
of town meetings. Ask them to write a letter
to a friend or relative in England in which they
describe their feelings about having some of
their governmental power taken away. Students
might refer to English rights, the Magna Carta,
and so on, in their letters.
CHAPTER 5 • SECTION 2
Connecting History
Expanding Liberty
Remind students that the House of
Burgesses did not establish a true
democracy, as only male landowners had
the right to vote.
More About . . .
The Virginia House of Burgesses
Twenty-two representatives from eleven
boroughs and plantations along the
James River were elected to the House of
Burgesses in July 1619. They met with the
royal governor and a six-member council
appointed by the colonial proprietor (the
Virginia Company). Although their decisions
could be vetoed by the company in London,
an elected government body was unusual.
Over the years, many well-known patriots
served in the Virginia House of Burgesses,
including George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, and Patrick Henry.
Teach
English Rights Threatened
Reader, Recorder, Reporter
• Why did the people of Massachusetts think
they could ignore the Navigation Acts? (They
claimed England had no right to make laws
for them.)
• How did the Glorious Revolution in England
affect government in the colonies? (When it
established the English Bill of Rights, colonists
claimed those political and personal rights.)
• Sequence Events How did the colonies
and Parliament compromise after King James
fell? (Colonies gained the right to elect
representatives but had to accept a governor
appointed by the crown.)
Teacher’s Edition • 139