The British Roots of American Government
F
John Locke
TheEnliehte-nment
wasa movement
thaternphasized
reasonandscienceasthepathsto knowledge.It
began in Europe but it had far-reaching effects on the colonies. It began as scientists discovered natural laws
governing the universe. IsaaoNewton, for examplg explained the law of gravity. But other Enlightenment
thinkers applied the idea ofnatural law to human societies.
John locke was a famous English Enlightenmentphilosopher. He lived from 1632to L7O4. He had
written a book called Two Treatises of Civil Government (1690). In that book he wrote about natural rishts.
The idea of natural rights means that all persons have these rights just becausethey are human beings.
Sometimes these are called basic rights or fundamental rights. Everyone is born with these rights and they
should not be taken away without a personosagreement.
Although people agreed on certain natural rights (such as life, liberty, and property), they worried about
how thoserights could be protected. Locke thought about what life would be like in a situation where there was
no govemment and no laws. He called this situation agt&lg_gf43tgIg. He was afraid that in a state of nature
rights would be taken away. In a stateof nature,people might feel free to do anlhing they want to do. But
their rigbts would not be protectedand they would feel insecure.
Locke developed a solution to the problems that would exist in a place without government. Locke
arguedthat people should agreeto give up some of their freedom in exctiangedfor protiction and security.
They would consent to follow laws in exchangefor the protection that theselaws would give them. This
agreanent is called a social compact or Sg!{-g!Elg!.
A social contract is an agreementpeople make among
themselvesto create a govemment to rule them and protect their natural rights. In this agreement the people
consentto obey the laws createdby.that governmant
John Locke said that the main.purposeof governmentshould be to protect the people's natural rights.
He also said that the kings should not have g!rgelg$g."@wqg,
that is, power without limits. They should not be
'ble to deprive people of their natural rights.
Many Americans had read Locke's book, and they agreedwith what it said about governme,rt. Those
rvho had not actually read Locke's book know his ideas from newspapers,political pamphlets, church sennons,
and discussions. You will seelater how the Foundersincluded theseideas in the Declaration of Independence.
British Government
The American colonists had been ruled by the British govemment for over 150 yearsbefore the
American Revolution. As a result, Americans knew quite a bit about the British government. The men who
wrote our Constitution were greatly influenced by their experienceswith the British government.
Feudal System - Under the feudal system,the people in England belonged to one of the following three
groups.
1. Royalty - This group included the gggg!
(king or queen) and his or her family
Z. Nobility - This group included the "lords" and "ladies" who held titles such as earl, duke, duchess,
and baron.
3. Commoners - This goup included such people as kniglrts (soldiers of the Hrg), merchants,and
peasants(peqple who worked the land). The peasantswere not free and could not leave the areain
which they worked.
England's lan{ all belongedto the king or queen. There was too much land for a king or queen to rule
lone. So, they gav.esome of the responsibiiity for governing the kingdom to the nobility. Under the feudal
system,the nobles were allowed to control parts of the land and the people who lived there. In exchange,they
pledged their loyalty to the king and fought for him.
Magna Carrta- Underthe feudalsystem,it becamea customor traditionfor the royalty to sharesomeof its
powerswith the nobility. As a rezult,the noblesbecameusedto having certainrights andpowers. When King
Johntried to takeback someof theserighis,ifie nobiesrebeiied.
agreementbecameknown as the Masna Carta or GreatCharter. It saidthat the nobleswould obey the king
only aslong ashe protectedtheir rights
The Magna Cartacontainedtwo very important ideas:
1. Governrnents
arebasedon an agreelnentor contractbetweenthe ruler andthepeopleto be ruled. In
the caseof the Magna Cartathiswasa contractbetweenthe king and the nobility. Most of the
peoplein Englandwere not part of this agreementbut it was an early stepin establishingthe idea
that govemmentshouldbe basedon a contractthat includesall the people. A governmentby
contractalso includesthe ideathat if either sidebreaksthe contractit is no longer valid.
2. The Magna Cartaalsoincludesthe ideaof rule of law. This meansthat both the govemmentand the
governedmust obey the law. The law limits thepower of the govemment. For examplg the king
could not take awaythe properfyof a noble without following agreed-uponproceduresandrules.
The rule of law alsomeantthat if the king broke the laws,the nobleshad the rigbt to overthrowhim.
This idea becamepart of the naturalrights philosophyandis included in our Declarationof
Independence.
The early English customsand traditionsand MagnaCartaprotectedcertal;n.basic
rights. Theserights
werenot given to all peopleof England. Men who ownedpropertywere given far more rights than other
people. Men without property, andwomenand children had fewerrights. Howeverthe Magna Cartawas an
important stepin protecting the rights of the peopleand limiting thepower of the gove,mment.
Parliament - In 1258,the noblesforcedKing Henry III to createa new councilcalledParliament to advisethe
'ronarch. Parliamentwas madeup of two houseswhich represented
the most powerful gxoupsin the kingdom.
^he Houseof Lords represented
thepeoplewho ownedlarge
thenobles. The Houseof Commonsrepresented
arnountsof land but were not membersof the nobility.
For hundredsof yearsafter the creationof Parliament,theroyalty, nobility, andcommonsstruggledfor
power. No one Broupwas ableto conhol all the power for very long. The strugglebecameso inte,nseduring
the l7h centurythat a civil war resulted.Thenobleswon andin 1649,Parliamentorderedthe executionof the
king. By the time of the GloriousRevolutionof 1688,thebalanceof powerhad shiftedin favor of Parliament.
ParliamentbecameEngland'schief lawmakingbody.
The English Bill of Rights - In 1689,Parliamentpassedanimportantlaw, the Enqlish BiI of Biehts. This
law gavecertainrights to Englishmenandfurther iimited the powersof the monarch. The Bill of Rights gave
Parliamentthebalanceof powerin the Englishgovernment.
The Bill of Rights guaranteedthat electionsto Parliamentmustbe free andthat the peoplehave the rigltt
to keep and carry weapons. It saidthat kings and queenswerenot allowedto collect taxeswithout the consent
of Parliament,interfere with the right of &eespeechanddebatethat went on in Parliament,maintain an army in
timesof peace(sinceit might be usedto takeover the government),
requireexcessivebail or administercruel
punishmentfor thoseaccusedor convictedof crimes,or declarethat laws madeby Parliamentshouldnot be
obeyed.
By the endof the 17ftcentury,the British govemmentbecame
increasinglylimited in what it could do.
Drring this sameperiod, the governmentwas establishingcoloniesin North Arnerica. The colonistsbrougbt
with thernthe English systemof constitutionalgovernment.