The Rights of Colonists
(4.4)
What are “rights”?
•  “powers or privileges that belong to people
as citizens and that cannot or should not be
taken away by the government”
The understand our rights, we have to go all the way back
to…
King John
King of England from 1199-1216
The Legend of The Magna Carta
-  King John was known to be incredibly cruel.
-  He tried to force the English landowners to give
him $
-  In 1215, the barons decided to do something
about it. They got King John to sign a contract
called the Magna Carta.
 The Magna
Carta
Runnymede
Magna Carta means “Great Charter”
-  It said that not even the king is above the law.
-  This immediately limited the power of the
monarch.
1265 – Parliament
-  In
1265, the king’s power was limited even
further by the formation of Parliament.
-  Parliament is a group of representatives
from across England who had the power to
approve LAWS and TAXES proposed by the
king.
400 years later…
King James II, and his rockin’ haircut, didn’t
want to play nice with Parliament
So, in 1685 Parliament said:
- Parliament brought in Prince William and his wife Mary and said,
“Hey, you want to be king and queen? All you have to do is sign
this little piece of paper called The English Bill of Rights.”
The English Bill of Rights
Of course, William and Mary signed it. The English Bill of
Rights made Parliament more powerful than the king and
queen.
1) The right to petition the government. “Petition: to make a
formal request or demand.” (p.52)
2)  Gave ONLY Parliament (not the king) the power to make
taxes and laws.
3)  The right to trial by jury
- The colonists in the 13 colonies were considered British
citizens. Which rights did they have?
- Which rights didn’t they have?
The Original 13 Colonies in 1770
The original 13 colonies were broken up into 3 parts:
New England – (4) Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
and New Hampshire
Middle Colonies –(4)
New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and Delaware
Southern Colonies – (5) Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia