LECTURE 2: HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF
ENGLISH CIVIL RIGHTS
Introduction -- John Adams has called the Constitution "the greatest act of national deliberation
ever seen." George Washington describes the Constitution as "little short of a miracle." The
Constitution is in fact the oldest written Constitution in the world (most of the others were
adopted after World War II). The second oldest Constitution in effect in the world is Argentina's,
which was drafted and ratified in 1853.
God’s Providence is seen in the timing of the Constitution. Five years earlier the states were not
yet ready for a more powerful central government. Five years later and the French Revolution
may have altered the parameters of the Constitution.
The United States began, of course, as an English colony, and English law became American law
after the Revolution when the states adopted English common law as their own (an exception is
Louisiana, which started as a French colony and France has no common law). The U.S.
Constitution is different from Great Britain’s in two important ways: (1) the U.S. Constitution is
written while the English Constitution is unwritten; and (2) More importantly, the Parliament is
supreme over the unwritten constitution and the powers of Parliament are not well defined (at
least not in writing). In the United States, Congress is subject to the Constitution and each branch
has specific limited power.
The Constitution is very important to the Rule of Law. Under this very important Rule, law is
fixed and meant to be applied impartially to all. As you'll see, the Constitution was intended to
have the federal government governing its authorized area with a very light hand, that the
Constitution is more procedural and substantive, and that the Constitution left rights to the states
and the people themselves.
1. 1215 -- Magna Carta
King John was faced with a depleted royal treasury because of the Crusades and the
ransom demands for Richard I. For their willingness to pay taxes, the English aristocracy
forced the Crown to make the following concessions (page 657 of Cogan book):
a.
b.
c.
d.
Crown cannot take property without paying for it
No free man can be imprisoned unless found guilty at trial by his peers
Established a competent judicial system
Stirrings of representative government -- Barons may elect 25 barons to petition the
King for grievances
2. 1450 -- Guttenberg Bible -- very significant technological advancement that profoundly
affected the dissemination of information
3. 1485 -- The Lancastrians route the House of York, thereby ending the War of the Roses
which had lasted for decades and had cast a cloud over the claims to the English throne.
Henry VII, who won the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, took the throne and a year later
married Elizabeth of York, thereby uniting both the House of Lancaster and the House of
York. Henry and Elizabeth had four children: Arthur, Henry, Margaret (married James IV
1
of Scotland) and Mary. Henry reigned for 24 years, and during his reign he created the
Privy Council (a forerunner of the modern cabinet) and the Court of the Star Chamber.
As an alternative to taxes, Henry imposed upon the nobility forced loans and grants. His
skill at bypassing Parliament (and thus the will of the nobility) played a crucial role in his
success and formed the model for future Kings.
Henry obtained the help of Spain in his constant fights with France by arranging the
marriage of his eldest son, Arthur, to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella. Within months, Arthur died and rather than returning the dowry to the
Spaniards, Henry VII arranged the marriage of Catherine to Arthur's younger brother, the
future Henry VIII.
4. 1492 -- Columbus discovers the New World for Spain, and Spain becomes rich by
confiscating the gold and other valuables of the indigenous people.
5. 1509 – Henry VIII takes the throne and reigns until 1547. Children: Mary (mother
Catherine), Elizabeth (mother Ann Boleyn), Edward (mother Jane Seymour). Much has
been written about the many wives of Henry VIII, and this will only scratch the surface.
It is, however, important to understand the marital intrigue, since it very much affected
England and its future colonies.
a. As noted previously, Catherine of Aragon married Prince Arthur, who died before
taking the throne. When Henry VII died, Henry VIII asked Catherine to marry him.
Subsequently, Catherine had many failed pregnancies, and a son died after birth. She
did have one daughter, Mary, who lived through childhood and, as we will see later,
became Queen.
b. Henry VIII for many years like his wife was committed to the Roman Catholic
Church. After Luther started an uproar in Germany in 1517, Henry VIII wrote a
pamphlet denouncing Luther and his ideas. For this pamphlet, the Pope in 1521
awarded Henry the title "Defender of the Faith," which would be short-lived.
c. Henry was not a faithful husband and had many mistresses. Henry was driven by
having a successor which, given the fragility of the English throne, was in the best
interest of England.
d. Henry became interested in Anne Boleyn, a woman in his court. Anne, however, did
not want to become simply another mistress of Henry like her sister Mary before her.
She wanted to be Queen or nothing else. During this time, Henry read a passage in the
Bible saying that if a man marries his sister-in-law, he will be childless. He therefore
sought a divorce from Catherine so that he could marry Anne. Catherine contended
that she remained a virgin when married to sickly Prince Arthur, and that on this basis
the Pope had originally given Henry dispensation to marry Catherine. Henry appealed
his case to the Pope, seeking an annulment from Catherine. The Pope, who was
politically tied to Catherine's nephew, Emperor Charles V, decided in favor of
Catherine. Catherine thereafter became estranged from her husband and remained
secluded for the rest of her life.
e. Anne Boleyn, meanwhile, finally gave in to Henry's advances and became pregnant.
This, of course, became quite problematic, since Henry was still married to Catherine.
2
Since the Roman Catholic Church was an obstacle to the divorce, Henry decided to
take ecclesiastical matters in his own hands and appointed as Archbishop Thomas
Cranmer.
f. Henry and Anne married in January, 1533. Four months later, Cranmer declared
Henry and Catherine's marriage null and void; five days later, he declared Henry and
Anne's marriage to be good and valid. Shortly afterwards, the Pope excommunicated
both Henry and Cranmer. In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which
established Henry and his heirs as the leaders of the Church of England.
g. Anne was crowned Queen of England on June 1, 1533. Three months later, she gave
birth to the future Elizabeth I of England. To Henry's displeasure, however, she failed
to produce a male heir. Three miscarriages followed and by March 1536, Henry was
courting Jane Seymour. Before marrying Jane Seymour, Henry had to get rid of
Anne, which he did by trumping up charges of adultery and incest against her. Anne
was found guilty of these charges and was beheaded.
h. Jane Seymour became Queen in 1536 and gave Henry a son, Edward, and then Jane
died shortly thereafter. After Jane's death, Henry promised to marry Anne of Cleves
from Germany sight unseen. When Anne of Cleves arrived from Germany, Henry
was disappointed and the marriage was never consummated. The next wife was
Katherine Howard, who was Queen for 18 months. Katherine was a teenager when
she married Henry, but she had two lovers before marriage and several during her
marriage. She too was beheaded. Henry's last wife was Katherine Parr, who did not
want to marry Henry, but he insisted, and so they did. Katherine was married to
Henry for four years when he died at the age of 55.
6. 1517—Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses (debating points) to the door of the Catholic
Church at Wittenberg, Germany. Luther and Calvin, similar to previous theologians in
the Church, wanted to reform the church. Unlike previous reformers, however, Luther's
reforms focused on doctrines, such as sole fide, sola scriptura, and consubstantiation
rather than transubstantiation. As a reaction to Luther, the Catholic Church convened a
series of councils at Trent (1536-1545), and although the Council of Trent reformed
practices like indulgences, they reaffirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation, the
continued vitality of church tradition, and the practice of works with faith. These
doctrinal differences resulted in religious wars in Europe that lasted a century, finally
ending in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Under this Treaty, the religious faith of the
leader of a political subdivision became the faith of the people in the subdivision. This
resulted in northern Europe being Protestant and southern Europe being Catholic.
7. 1530s-1540s – John Calvin, the Institutes of the Christian Religion and the School at
Geneva
8. 1547-53 -- King Edward VI -- Edward became king at the age of nine, and reigned for six
years. Because he had not reached maturity, his uncles served as regents for him.
Especially influential during this time was Archbishop Cranmer, who helped Edward turn
England Protestant by publishing the Bible in English, eliminating the Mass and celibacy
of priests, and adopting the Book of Common Prayers.
9. 155 3-58 – Mary I – Edward VI was succeeded by his Catholic half-sister, Mary Tudor,
who was the daughter of Henry and Catherine. Mary tried to reverse the direction Edward
pushed the nation and tried to re-Catholicize England. The Book of Common Prayer
3
instituted by King Edward was abandoned, Protestant bishops were replaced by Catholic
bishops, and the doctrine of transubstantiation returned. Mary married Philip II, King of
Spain (more on him momentarily). During Mary's five-year reign, many Protestants were
killed, giving her the nickname of Bloody Mary.
10. 1558-1603 – Elizabeth I – Mary was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth, the daughter
of Henry and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth tried to find a middle ground between Catholicism
and Calvinism. To please the Protestants, Elizabeth confirmed the break with Rome and
reintroduced the Book of Common Prayer. She also, however, tolerated worship by
Catholics. Because Elizabeth returned England to a form of Protestantism, her brother-inlaw, Philip II of Spain, unleashed the Spanish Armada. Because Elizabeth allowed
elements of Catholicism to remain in the Church of England, there arose a group of
Protestants who wanted to purify the church of remaining popish influences. These
Protestants were called Puritans. The Virgin Queen died childless, so Parliament on
Elizabeth’s death asked James VI, a cousin of Elizabeth (the grandmother of James was a
sister of Henry VIII), to take the English Crown as James I.
11. 1603-25 – James VI/I – James may be best known as the king who authorized the
publication of the Bible (1605). James loved at least two things: (1) the doctrine of the
Divine Right of Kings; and (2) spending money. The love of these two things resulted in
conflict, since the only way the King could collect taxes is by calling Parliament, and
Parliament trampled upon what James believed was his divine right to rule. Therefore,
James started raising money without parliamentary authority. This included selling
monopoly licenses (the Virginia Company – Jamestown in 1607), raising import and
export duties, and selling titles (earls, barons and knights). Because of this revenue
creativity, James did not call Parliament into session for 10 years. When Parliament
finally met because James needed even more money than he could raise through his
creativity, Parliament criticized James's foreign policy and raising money without its
consent. In reaction, James dissolved Parliament and arrested some dissident MPs.
During this time, the Puritans continued to be upset at the Church of England's mix of
Protestantism and Catholicism, and they continued to grow in numbers. During the reign
of James I, the Pilgrims came to America in 1621, and the Puritans began their big
migration to Massachusetts in the 1620s and 1630s.
12. 1625-49 – Charles I – Like his father, Charles I was a proponent of the Divine Right of
Kings. Charles made the mistake of marrying a Catholic princess, which resulted in
continuing suspicions concerning his theological leanings. In 1628, Parliament presented
Charles I with the Petition of Rights (Cogan at 666-67). The Petition of Rights reminded
the king of past concessions (e.g., The Magna Carta), and the Kings’ offenses against
these provisions. Article X reiterates no taxation without representation, that no free man
can be imprisoned without due process, and requires the removal of quartering of
soldiers.
Charles tried to impose the Book of Common Prayer on the Scottish Presbyterians. They
rebelled, Charles attacked and failed to conquer Scotland. He knew he needed money for
an army, so he called for the first Parliament in 11 years. This session, called the Short
Parliament, lasted only three weeks. When the Scots attacked again, Charles lost again,
and he then called another Parliament into session which met in 1640 (the “Long
Parliament”) and refused to give Charles command of the army. What Parliament gave
4
Charles I instead was the Grand Remonstrance, which in 210 numbered paragraphs
outlined Charles’s religious and political abuses over the previous 10 years. This resulted
in Charles trying to arrest five MPs, and Charles and Parliament began asserting
conflicting authority over the militia and the Navy, with both sides beginning preparation
for a Civil War.
England divided essentially into two camps as result of this feud between the Crown and
Parliament. The northern and western counties of England sided with the King, and the
southern and eastern portions of England sided with Parliament. Rising above all on the
Parliament side (called “Roundheads" because of their haircuts) was a MP who was also
a brilliant cavalry leader. Oliver Cromwell rose to lead the Army to a series of military
victories over the Cavalier/Royalists, while the Scottish “Covenanters” were defeating
the Royalists in Scotland.
Facing defeat, Charles I surrendered to the Scots (remember his family ties to Scotland).
Seeing England in turmoil, the Irish revolted. For fear of a Catholic revival, the Scots
handed Charles over to Parliament for a bounty of 400,000 pounds. Before peace could
be concluded between the King and Parliament, the Army took King Charles prisoner.
Like in many other places, however, there was dissension in the Army, and a segment of
the Army allowed King Charles to escape to Scotland. In Scotland, Charles I crafted a
deal whereby the Scots would give him an army for Charles's promise to introduce
Presbyterianism in England for three years. When Charles I marched into England with
the Scottish army, Cromwell defeated him.
The question then arose as to what to do with the King. The army took control of the
situation and on December 6, 1648, Col. Thomas Pride stood at the door of Parliament
and arrested 40 MPs considered sympathetic to the King. In all, Pride and his colleagues
excluded a total of 140 MPs from Parliament. The Rump Parliament then proceeded with
only 56 members to consider charges of treason against the King. King Charles I did not
respond to the charges of treason against him because he thought the parliamentary court
illegitimate. After the conclusion of the case, the MPs present rendered a verdict of guilty
against the King, and Charles I was beheaded three days later.
13. 1649-58 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector -- There was no succession plan after the
Regicide, and Parliament splintered as to who was to take control. In April, Cromwell
entered Parliament with a detachment of soldiers and dispersed Parliament. Cromwell
prepared an Instrument of Government and presented it to Parliament. In this Instrument,
a Lord Protector with the aid of a Council of State would have the executive power in
England. Parliament was to meet at least once every three years, could not be dissolved
without its consent, and it would consist of representatives from all four nations of Great
Britain (a Republic). The Lord Protector could delay bills for 20 days, but could not
prevent their passage. The Lord Protector would have control of the Army, and there
would be freedom of worship for all except Catholics and Quakers.
Cromwell ruled by decree for year, and when Parliament met, it considered and then
rejected the Instrument of Government. Cromwell then dissolved Parliament.
5
Cromwell recalled Parliament in 1657, and it proposed to Cromwell The Humble Petition
and Advice by which: (1) Parliament would become bicameral; (2) nobody elected to the
House of Commons could be excluded; (3) Parliament would approve appointments to
the Council of State; and (4) the Lord Protector could name his successor. Cromwell
considered this, but did not sign it. The next Parliament then criticized and rejected the
Humble Petition and Cromwell, so he dissolved Parliament again.
14. 1658-59 – Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector – Oliver Cromwell died, and his son
became his successor. These were very tough times in England, however, since the
government was broke and the entire country was going into anarchy. The Army then
called on the one person who could command widespread support, Charles II, the son of
Charles I.
15. 1660-85 – Charles II -- The "Merry Monarch" was a shrewd man who preferred not to
take too great an interest in affairs of state. As long as he enough time and money to
pursue his real interests (gossip, philandering, sports), he was not inclined to push great
matters of state. During his time, Parliament was determined to punish and marginalize
the religious malcontents on both sides. It therefore prohibited from holding office all
those who did not conform to the Church of England. Parliament did perform one very
worthy act during the reign of Charles II, this being the Habeus Corpus Act of 1679
(Cogan at 679). Although Charles had 14 illegitimate children with mistresses, he and his
wife were childless. When he died, Charles’s brother James II ascended to the throne. On
his deathbed, Charles II converted to Catholicism and therefore joined the faith of his
brother.
16. 1685-88 -- James II – The prospect of a Catholic monarch filled the British Protestants
with dread. They remembered the bloody persecutions of Mary and the attempted
invasion of the Spanish Armada. The early actions of James confirmed their fear when he
formed a permanent standing army and promoted Catholic officers to senior posts in both
the Army and Navy. The turning point was the birth of a male heir in 1868. While James
and his wife lacked a male heir, his Protestant daughter Mary was next in line to the
throne, and she had married the continent’s foremost Protestant soldier, William of
Orange. But the birth of a son had now opened up the path to a permanent Catholic
succession. In July, 1688, a group of leading Protestant nobles and clergy invited William
to invade England and save the country. After a short hesitation, William accepted and
landed with 15,000 men. Almost immediately, James's support disintegrated. Several
counties and towns declared for William, as did James's leading general, Churchill. After
marching south to confront William shortly after his landing, James lost his nerve and
retreated to London at the head of a much larger army. James went into exile in France
and tried to raise an army to support his restoration. When James tried to invade, William
defeated him and James went into permanent exile.
17. 1688-1702 – William III & Mary II – The Glorious Revolution – when William and
Mary ascended to the throne, Parliament with their consent established a limited
monarchy. The most important document was the Bill of Rights in 1689 (Cogan at 689).
This Bill of Rights withdrew the King’s power to suspend or implement laws without
parliamentary consent, raise money without parliamentary approval, maintain a standing
army without parliamentary approval, interfere with the election of MPs, and create
courts to investigate ecclesiastical issues. Additional acts during the reign of William and
6
Mary included prohibiting the formation of a standing army without parliamentary
consent, guaranteeing limited freedom of worship to the dissenting Protestants, and
requiring the convening of Parliament at least once every three years.
18. 1702 - present – House of Hanover – William and Mary also died childless, and through
the Act of Settlement, the throne of England went to the Elector of Hanover, a descendent
of James I. George I ascended to the British throne in 1702, and his family has reigned
ever since.
Why is this relevant to the study of American history and the Constitution?
7
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., The American System of Government: Government &
Politics in the U.S.A., available at
http://www.proconservative.net/CUNAPolSci201PartTwoB.shtml (last visited June 7,
2020).
CONSTITUTIONALISM: THE FIRST ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT OF MODERN
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
What is a constitution? What are its functions? How does an "unwritten" constitution differ from
a written constitution? What are the characteristics and content of the British Constitution? What
is a constitutional system? What is constitutionalism? What is its central purpose? What are the
different ways in which a constitution may limit political authority? How can a government be
constitutional without being democratic?
1. Constitution--Nature and Functions
Constitution--A Definition. A constitution is the body of law that is the basic, or fundamental,
law of a politically organized society. The Constitution is the supreme law of the political
society; it is higher than and takes precedence over all other laws of the society. All the other
laws, to be valid and enforceable, must be in accord with the higher and superior law of the
Constitution. An official decision of any governmental institution or office must be in
harmony with the Constitution, the supreme law of the political community. The legislature,
the executive, and the courts must follow the Constitution.
In the U.S.A., every law enacted by a legislature and every decision or action of an executive
office or agency must be in accord with the Constitution of the United States, the supreme
law of the land. The constitutionality of any legislative statute or executive decision or action
can be challenged in the courts of law. If the governmental decision or action in question is
found by the courts to be contrary to the Constitution, they will uphold the Constitution and
set aside the unconstitutional decision or action of the legislature or of the executive.
The Functions of a Constitution. In a society with a genuinely constitutional political regime,
the Constitution (1) provides the legal foundation and basic structure, or framework, of the
society's government, (2) prescribes the form and procedures of the government, (3) grants
certain powers to the government, (4) designates the major organs, or institutions, of
government and the method by which the personnel--or top personnel--in each are to be
selected, (5) assigns to each major governmental institution its particular area of authority
and responsibility, (6) defines the relationship between the government and the individual
citizen as well as the relationships among the principal organs of government, and (7)
establishes the metes and bounds of political authority--i.e., imposes limits on governmental
power.
2. Constitutions--Written and Unwritten:
A constitution can be written or unwritten.
Written Constitutions. A written constitution is codified. That is, a single constitutional
document, titled "the Constitution," serves as the basic law of the political society and as the
legal foundation of its government. The entire body of fundamental law for the society is
contained in a single document, as amended.
With one significant exception, every constitutional political regime in the world today
operates on the basis of a written constitution. Contemporary examples of written
constitutions include the Constitution of the United States of America, the Constitution of the
Fifth French Republic, the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Constitution
of the Swiss Confederation, and the constitutions of the 50 semiautonomous (partly selfgoverning) states comprising the American federal union (e.g., the Constitution of the State
of South Carolina).
In the U.S.A., the Federal Constitution--the Constitution of the United States of America --is
the basic law of American society, governs the operation of the national government, and
establishes the formal power relationships between the national government and the 50
semiautonomous states as well as the formal power relationships among the principal organs,
or institutions, of the national government. The U.S. Constitution is a single document
consisting of the seven original articles drafted by the Federal Constitutional Convention of
1787 and subsequently ratified by the 13 original states, plus the 27 amendments that have
been added to the document during the 211 years that have elapsed since ratification and
adoption of the Constitution.
An Unwritten Constitution. The governmental system in present-day Great Britain is the only
contemporary constitutional regime that does not operate on the basis of a written
constitution. The British Constitution is an "unwritten" constitution in the sense that it is
uncodified. There is no single document called "the British Constitution" or "the Constitution
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." There is no single
constitutional document that contains the entire body of fundamental law governing the
operation of the British government. The constitutional rules which shape and determine the
formal-legal nature and functioning of government in the United Kingdom are contained in a
centuries-old collection of historic documents, acts of Parliament, Common Law,
constitutional customs and traditions, and long-standing political usages, or practices. Some
parts of the British Constitution are written, but many more are not.
Written elements of Great Britain's Constitution include several important constitutional
documents which were adopted at different points in the history and development of
English/British constitutionalism and which are major milestones in that long period of legal
and political evolution--Magna Carta (1215), the Petition of Right (1628), and the Bill of
Rights (1689). The written elements also include parliamentary statutes that have attained
constitutional status--e.g., the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, the Act of Settlement of 1701, the
Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, 1884, 1918 and 1928, and the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.
In addition to the foregoing, the British Constitution contains important decisions of the
courts of law, especially as regards the Common Law--the vast body of judge-made law that,
beginning in the twelfth century, evolved from custom and judicial precedent.
Constitutionally significant aspects of the Common Law include, among other things, the
judicial precedents establishing the legal principles and rules governing protection of the
individual British subject's basic rights and
liberties. The constitutional principles and
rules established by decisions handed down in the Common-Law courts are contained in
neither historic constitutional documents nor constitutionally significant statutes and are
therefore considered to be among the unwritten parts of the Constitution. However, the
original statements of these principles and rules can be found in the written court records.
The unwritten elements of Britain's Constitution include constitutional customs and
traditions, e.g., those relating to special privileges enjoyed by Parliament and its individual
members. More importantly, the unwritten elements include what are called the "conventions
of the Constitution"--a series of long-established and highly significant political usages
which have the same force as the provisions of a written constitution. These conventions are
fundamental rules of political practice and make up a wholly unwritten but crucial part of the
Constitution. Among the more important of the conventions--the unwritten basic rules of
political practice--are those which dictate that (1) Parliament shall convene at least once
every year, (2) the Monarch shall appoint as Prime Minister the member of Parliament who
enjoys the confidence and support of a majority in the elective chamber of Parliament, the
House of Commons, (3) the Crown shall appoint to the other posts, or offices, in the Cabinet
the persons recommended by the Prime Minister, (4) the Monarch shall follow the advice of
the Prime Minister, (5) only the Prime Minister shall have access to the Monarch and their
discussions shall be kept secret, (6) the Monarch shall not attend meetings of the Cabinet, (7)
the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members shall be collectively responsible (i.e., jointly
accountable) to the House of Commons on matters of public policy, (8) upon losing the
confidence and support of the majority in the Commons, either the Prime Minister and other
Cabinet members shall resign their positions in the Cabinet or the Prime Minister shall advise
the Crown to dissolve Parliament and call a national election, (9) the Monarch shall
automatically assent to parliamentary legislation--i.e., the Crown shall not veto a legislative
bill passed by Parliament, and (10) Parliament shall not enact any statute that would have the
effect of destroying or seriously weakening the basic constitutional and democratic features
of the British political regime--e.g., Parliament shall not repeal the Bill of Rights or pass an
act restricting the electoral franchise to a small minority of the adult population. Violation of
the conventions of the Constitution is a most infrequent (in fact, virtually nonexistent)
practice in Britain.
In short, the British Constitution is a body of fundamental law that has evolved over a very
long period of time--a period of many centuries. Rather than consisting of a single document,
Britain's Constitution contains numerous written and unwritten elements--all of which, in
combination, perform essentially the same functions as does a body of written basic law
contained in one document, as amended. There are five particular sources of the basic law of
the United Kingdom--historic constitutional documents, parliamentary statutes that have
attained constitutional status, judicial decisions of constitutional significance, constitutional
customs and traditions, and the conventions of the Constitution. If a person seeks to discover
the basic rule or rules determining constitutionally permissible governmental action on a
given point or issue, he may have to consult all five sources of British fundamental law.
In every other country with a constitutional system of government, the present-day
Constitution is a single document which was drawn up and adopted at a particular time, went
into effect on a specific date, and subsequently has been amended from time to time.
3. Constitutional System--Definition and Example
If a society's system of government is truly constitutional in character--i.e., if the government
operates under and in accord with a constitution effectively limiting and controlling the
power of that government--the society has a constitutional system. Simply and briefly
defined, a society's constitutional system consists of the power relationships existing among
the principal organs of government and resulting from the constitutional division and
distribution of political authority among them. The constitutional system includes the formal
role or roles in the governing process played by each of the principal governmental
institutions under the Constitution.
In American society, for example, the United States Constitution (1) divides and distributes
the legitimate authority of government between the central government over the whole nation
and the governments of the member-states of the federal union, (2) reserves certain
governmental powers to the states, while denying them certain other powers, (3) delegates
certain powers to the national government and expressly prohibits it from exercising certain
other powers, (4) allocates the powers delegated to the national government among the
principal organs of that government (the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the
President of the U.S.A., and the U.S. Courts), granting each governmental organ a separate
set of powers and giving it a strong incentive as well as the legal right to oppose, block,
check, and restrain the other organs, and (5) imposes certain limitations on both the central
government and the states by guaranteeing civil liberties, i.e., the basic rights and liberties of
the individual citizen. The manner in which the U.S. Constitution grants, distributes, and
limits political authority results in an established set of power relations between the national
government and the states and among the major offices and institutions of the national
government. These power relationships among the various levels and organs of American
government result in established patterns of authoritative decision-making and action on
public policy and an established role or set of roles for each level or organ of government in
the legitimate processes of authoritative decision-making and action. The power relations, the
processes of authoritative decision-making and action, and the formal roles of the major
participants in these processes--all of which are characteristic of the American governmental
system and stem from the manner in which the U.S. Constitution grants, allocates, and
restricts governmental authority--make up the American constitutional system.
4. Constitutionalism--Nature and Central Purpose
Constitutionalism--A Definition. Constitutionalism is government conducted in accordance
with and within the limits set by the fundamental law of the Constitution. The Constitution,
as a body of written or unwritten basic law, is superior to and takes precedence over all
ordinary acts of the legislature and over all decisions and actions of the executive branch of
the government. Under the Constitution, restrictions on the discretionary authority of public
officers and institutions are clearly recognized and regularly enforced. In short, the
Constitution effectively limits the power of government.
Thus, constitutionalism is limited government--limited government under a constitution. A
constitutional government is one whose powers are effectively limited by law--limited by the
fundamental law of the Constitution.
To be genuinely constitutional in character, a government must comply with two
fundamental legal requirements: (1) The government must operate in accord with the
provisions of the Constitution. (2) The government must not exceed the authority granted to
it by the Constitution. The essential features of constitutionalism are the government's
compliance with these two basic legal requirements.
The Central Purpose of Constitutionalism. The central purpose of constitutionalism is to
limit governmental power, to check and restrain the persons who hold public office and
exercise political authority.
5. Different Ways in which a Constitution May Limit Political Authority
In a constitutional system of government, the Constitution may limit the power of
government in two different ways. The Constitution may limit governmental power by (1)
specification of procedures and prohibitions and/or (2) provision for a system of divided and
balanced political authority.
a) Specification of Procedures and Prohibitions:
Procedural Limitations. The Constitution prescribes certain procedures that must be followed
by public officeholders and institutions in making and enforcing the authoritative decisions
of government. This limits the alternative ways in which the government may exercise its
formal-legal powers; and to limit the government's alternatives, is to limit its discretionary
authority. The government's discretionary authority is circumscribed, or restricted, by
requiring its officers, agencies, and institutions to follow constitutionally prescribed
procedures in taking official action. The government cannot legally do anything it pleases in
any manner it pleases. It must follow the procedures specified in the Constitution.
In the U.S.A., for example, the national government, in taking official action against the
individual citizen, must follow the procedures spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. Among
such procedures mandated by the Federal Constitution are the requirements that (1) before a
person may be made to stand trial for a federal crime, a grand jury, by indictment or
presentment, must officially accuse him of having committed the crime [Fifth Amendment],
(2) the government must follow due process of law in depriving a person of life, liberty, or
property [Fifth Amendment], (3) just compensation must be made for private property taken
for a public purpose [Fifth Amendment], and (4) in all criminal prosecutions, the accused
must (a) be provided a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, (b) be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation, (c) be confronted by witnesses against him, (d) have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and (e) have the assistance of
counsel for his defense, provided the accused does not willingly and knowingly waive the
foregoing rights to a fair trial [Sixth Amendment].
In summary, constitutional imposition of procedural limitations on the exercise of political
authority means that, while the government possesses the authority to take action on a given
matter, it must do so according to a constitutionally prescribed pattern or sequence. If the
action taken by the government is to be legitimate, the government must, in the course of that
action, observe and comply with all the constitutional requirements and do so in the
constitutionally prescribed order.
Substantive Limitations. In addition to restricting political authority through specification of
procedures that the government must observe when making and enforcing decisions, a
constitution may limit government power by enumerating certain types of decisions that the
government is prohibited altogether from making and enforcing. In other words,
governmental authority is circumscribed by constitutional prohibitions withholding from
government particular kinds of decision-making and action taking authority. There are some
things that the government cannot legally do at all, regardless of the procedure followed. The
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, for example, denies government the authority to
make any "law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
b) Divided and Balanced Political Authority:
Balanced Government and its Objective. In a political regime characterized by divided and
balanced political authority, the Constitution limits governmental power by providing for a
system of balanced government or checks and balances. That is, the Constitution (1) creates
several principal organs, or institutions, of government that are separate from and largely
independent of each other, (2) divides political authority and distributes it among the
principal governmental organs, and (3) gives to each organ the motive as well as the
authority to oppose and counteract the other organs. Hence, the organs of government
exercise a series of checks and restraints on each other, preventing any one organ from
exceeding its powers, encroaching on those of the other organs, and upsetting the equilibrium
of power in the government. By opposing and blocking one another, the principal organs of
government prevent any one organ from usurping the authority of the other organs and
gathering enough power in its own hands to dominate the entire government. In other words,
the Constitution provides for a governmental structure designed to limit political authority by
maintaining a balance of political power in the government as a whole, preventing any one
power center in the government from dominating the others and exercising unchecked,
overriding political power.
Thus, the objective of constitutionally providing for a system of divided and balanced
political authority is to prevent concentration of political power in a single power center.
Operation of a system of balanced government is expected to (1) prevent any one institution
or office of government from dominating the entire government all and its parts and (2)
thereby make it impossible or extremely difficult for any one person, group, or faction-whether supported by a majority or minority--to dominate the entire government and use that
position of dominance to accumulate and exercise unlimited power over the society and its
members. By maintaining a balance of power in the government and preventing domination
of the entire government by a single governmental organ, the system makes it very very
difficult, if not impossible, for any one political organization --even one consisting of a
majority of the voters--to (1) win complete control of the government, as the result of victory
in a single election, (2) take complete charge of the entire nation, or political society, (3)
exercise the authority of government entirely or almost entirely in the service of a particular
religious sect, political ideology, or set of narrow interests, and (4) ignore and ride roughshod
over the rights and vital interests of all other segments of the population.
Balanced Government--A Summary. In a political society with a functioning system of
balanced government, the Constitution limits the power of government by dividing political
authority and distributing it among several separate and largely independent institutions of
government. Authority is distributed in such manner as to ensure that these governmental
institutions will (1) check and restrain one another and (2) prevent any one of them from (a)
usurping the authority of the others, (b) concentrating all governmental power in its own
hands, (c) becoming the dominant power center in the government, and (d) exercising
unchecked political power. In other words, governmental power is limited by operation of a
constitutional system which maintains an equilibrium, or balance, of power in the
government.
This constitutional arrangement makes it extremely difficult for a single political
organization, driven by adherence to religious dogma or political ideology or by commitment
to a set of narrow interests, to obtain complete control of the government and use its position
of political ascendancy to exercise unbridled political power over the society at large,
governing in an overbearing and tyrannical fashion.
c) Limited Government under the United States Constitution:
The U.S. Constitution limits governmental authority in both ways--by specifying procedures
and prohibitions that the government must observe and by providing for a system of divided
and balanced political authority. The Federal Constitution requires the U.S. government to
follow prescribed procedures, prohibits altogether certain governmental decisions and
actions, and allocates authority among the major government offices and institutions so as to
ensure maintenance of a balance of political power among them.
6. Constitutionalism and the "Rule of Law":
Constitutionalism is closely related to the Anglo-American political principle called the "rule
of law." The "rule of law," a concept deeply rooted in the history and development of law in
England and English-speaking North America, means the "supremacy of law." In any
political society operating under the rule of law, the law is supreme over officeholders in the
government, as it is over the general populace. In the society, there is a single body of law
applicable to all members of the society, a body of law applicable to those who govern as
well as those who are governed. Government officers, like ordinary citizens, are subject to
and must abide by the law; no one is above the law. Government officers, agencies, and
institutions must, among other things, follow legally prescribed procedures and observe the
legally guaranteed rights of individuals.
The rule of law strongly implies that there are limits to political authority, that there are
limits to the power of any governing elite to rule society, no matter how that elite acquired
governing authority. All the organs and offices of government--the legislature, the executive,
the administrative agencies, and even the courts of law--are required to observe and operate
according to recognized and established rules of procedure. In short, a society's adherence to
the rule of law means that the law circumscribes the discretionary authority of government
officeholders, agencies, and institutions.
The rule of law places particular emphasis on the protection of individual rights and liberties
by and under law. The law guarantees the individual citizen certain rights and liberties and
protects them from arbitrary interference or deprivation by government officeholders. The
government, in proceeding against an individual, must follow due process of law. The
government cannot legally deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process
of law. That is, the government, in taking punitive action against a person, is required to act
in strict accordance with legally established procedures. The government officeholders
cannot, without violating the law, arbitrarily execute or imprison an individual or confiscate
his property, disregarding the established rules of procedure.
Under the rule of law, legal means are available for holding government officers responsible
if they violate the Constitution or other laws of the political community. In the U.S.A., for
example, the Federal Constitution prescribes the procedures for removing officers of the
national government when they violate the law. If the President, the Vice President, a federal
judge, or a department head or other civil officer in the executive branch of the national
government is suspected of treason, bribery or other serious crime, he is subject to (1)
impeachment by majority vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, (2) trial by the U.S.
Senate, and (3) removal from office, on conviction by two-thirds vote in the Senate. A
member of either chamber of Congress may be expelled from that chamber by two-thirds
vote in the chamber. Moreover, all government officeholders, like ordinary citizens, are
subject to civil action and criminal prosecution in the courts of law.
7. Constitutional Oligarchy--Constitutionalism without Democracy:
A constitutional government is not necessarily a constitutional democracy. That is to say, a
political regime can be constitutional without being democratic.
An important example of a non-democratic constitutional regime in European history is the
English/British system of government during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early
nineteenth centuries. From 1689 to 1832, the government of England (Great Britain, after
1707) operated under and in accord with a constitution that included a bill of rights, the
English Bill of Rights. The British Constitution limited the authority of the Monarch and
defined the relationships among the principal organs of government--Crown, House of
Commons, and House of Lords.
The British government also operated in accord with the principle of political representation
(or representative government) --the principle that all new laws (and all changes in existing
laws) must, in order to go into effect, have the consent of an assembly elected by the voters.
Proposed legislation had to be introduced into the chambers of Parliament and could not
become law without approval by majority vote in the elective chamber--the House of
Commons. Despite its representative character, the political regime was far from being
democratic, since only a very small proportion of the adult male population had the legal
right to vote in elections to choose members of the House of Commons. The wealthy and
propertied minority within British society, especially the large landholders and merchants,
controlled the election of the Commons membership.
With the principles of constitutionalism and political representation operating within the
context of a limited electoral franchise, the governing authority of the Kingdom was in the
hands of a small elite group whose political power was limited by the Constitution. The
British system of government from 1689 to 1832 was a constitutional oligarchy, not a
constitutional democracy.
With Parliament's passage of the Reform Act of 1832, Britain began the transition from
constitutional oligarchy to constitutional democracy. The Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, 1884,
1918, and 1928 extended the right to vote in parliamentary elections, progressively
increasing the proportion of the adult population that was included in the electorate. Step by
step, Parliament continued to increase the size of the electorate until universal adulthood
suffrage had been achieved. Today, virtually all adult British subjects are legally entitled to
register as voters and vote in parliamentary elections.
8. Constitutionalism--A Summary:
Constitutionalism is government conducted in accordance with and within the limits set by a
written or unwritten constitution--a body of law that is superior to and takes precedence over
all ordinary laws, decisions, and actions of government offices, agencies, and institutions. A
constitutional government, whether democratic or oligarchical, operates in accord with the
provisions of a constitution and does not exceed the authority granted to it by that
constitution.
The purpose of constitutionalism is to limit the power of government. A constitution
generally limits governmental power by requiring the government to follow prescribed
procedures in making and enforcing official decisions and by prohibiting altogether the
government's taking certain decisions and actions. Instead of or in addition to the foregoing
method of limiting governmental authority, a constitution may accomplish the objective by
structuring the government in such manner as to ensure maintenance of a balance of power
among the principal organs of government.
Constitutionalism is closely related to the political principle known as the "rule of law."
Under the rule of law, the law is supreme over government officeholders, who, like ordinary
citizens, are subject to and must abide by the law. Government institutions and officers must,
among other things, follow procedures prescribed by law and observe the legally guaranteed
rights and liberties of individuals.
British Origins of
American
Constitutionalism
Created by Tom Driscoll
http://driscoll-class.wikispaces.com/
Modified by Crystal Barnett
Objectives
Explain how rights and representative government
developed in England and how this evolution influenced
the Founders.
Identify the origins of some of Americans’ most
important constitutional rights.
Evaluate, take, and defend positions on
The influence of the British Constitution on the development
of rights.
The importance of habeas corpus and trial by jury.
Vocabulary
Common Law
Precedent
Stare Decisis
Rule of Law
Writ of Habeas Corpus
Plaintiff
Complaint; Answer
Introduction 1
John Adams: Constitution was “the greatest act of
national deliberation ever seen.”
George Washington: “little short of a miracle.”
Oldest written Constitution in world
God’s Providence: Few decades after “First Great
Awakening;” shortly before the French Revolution (very,
very different)
Effect of Great Awakening: spread of literacy/education;
break down of class barriers; new public perspective on
gov’t
Introduction 2
Organic laws of U.S.: Declaration of Independence,
Articles of Confederation; Northwest Ordinance, and
Constitution (appear in vol. I of US Code; fundamental
laws)
Declaration of Independence is most overtly religious of
the 4: “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme Judge,” and
“Divine Providence.”
Constitution more procedural – “nuts and bolts”
Roots of English Government
After fall of the Roman Empire, England divided into tribes
1066 –William the Conquer unites tribes into a single Kingdom
and establishes feudalism
English monarch
Made laws
Supervised law enforcement
Heard court cases
Defended the kingdom
Development of “Common Law”
To simplify complicated web of local legal systems,
William the Conqueror creates a common law for entire
kingdom
Judges required to publish decisions which creates
precedent to decide future cases
This system establishes law predictability and stability,
and allows business to develop and flourish
The “Rights of Englishmen”
Rights of Englishmen - Over time, monarchs and judges came to
recognize certain personal rights (trial by jury of one’s peers)
Magna Carta (1215) –King John forced to sign a charter
confirming certain traditional rights
Rule of Law - every member of society (even monarch) must
obey laws; outlaws arbitrary gov’t
Basic Rights - establishes redress of grievances (compensation
for loss or wrong done to those if the Crown infringes on their
common law rights)
Parliamentary Government Begins
1295 -Edward I summons “Model Parliament”
- 2 Representative Parts (Houses)
- House of Lords: Nobility & Church officials
- House of Commons: Citizens & Knights (w/ wealth & status)
For monarchs, Parliament was a
convenient way to negotiate with
all of the country’s interests at once
English subjects found it to be an
effective way to voice grievances &
limit monarchs’ power
Important Dates/Events in English History I
1450 – Gutenberg
1485 – End of War of the Roses
1492 – Columbus
1509 – Henry VIII ascends throne – wives
◦ Catherine, Anne, Jane, Anne, Katherine x 2
◦ “Defender of the Faith” to excommunicant
◦ Act of Supremacy (1534)
Important Dates/Events in English History II
1517 – Martin Luther – (John Calvin 1530s-40s)
Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation
1547-53 -- King Edward VI – Prot. briefly
1553-58 – Mary I – return to Catholicism
1558-1603 – Elizabeth I – middle ground and Spanish
Armada
1603-25 – James VI/I – divine right/$$
1625-49 – Charles I – Petition of Rights (Supp. pg 4), Civil
War, Rump Parliament, Regicide
Important Dates/Events in English History III
1649-58 – Oliver Cromwell and the Republic – an
Instrument & Humble Pet.
1658-59 – Richard Cromwell – anarchy
1660-85 – Charles II – “Merry Monarch” – Habeas
Corpus Act (Supp. at 4)
1685-88 – James II and return to Catholicism
1688-1702 – William & Mary and the Glorious
Revolution – Bill of Rights (Supp. at 5)
English Bill of Rights
Influences on Founders
Rule of Law
- Restated idea in Magna Carta that rule of law
is the foundation of limited government
Representative Government
- Only representative government is legitimate
- Americans reject representation by social classes,
instead favoring the idea of social equality
1702- Present – House of Hanover
Why is all of this relevant/important?
Summary of British Constitution
Not a single document, instead consists of common law,
important acts of Parliament, and tradition.
Important documents include Magna Carta (1215),
Petition of Right (1628), English Bill of Rights (1689).
Parliament is supreme and their power is undefined
Habeas Corpus Established
Government must justify why a person is held in custody.
Limits government from jailing persons arbitrarily or indefinitely
Colonial Constitutionalism 1
History – Roanoke Island (1585, 1587)
Jamestown (1607) – First Charter of Virginia and Dale’s
Code
Plymouth – Mayflower Compact (1620)
◦ first social compact in colonies
◦ created by Pilgrims, subset of Puritans who had given up on
reforming Church of England, that had drifted off course and
outside of land covered by Charter; some thought that no law
applied, thus the Mayflower Compact
◦ no religious tolerance
Colonial Constitutionalism 2
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
◦ First Colonial constitution; drafted by Daniel Ward, Puritan
pastor
◦ Provided a plan for self-government and formation of the
goverment
Liberties of the Massachusetts Colonie (1641)
◦ Nathaniel Ward, Puritan pastor trained as lawyer
◦ Included purpose of government; term limits; limits to the
number of times you could hold office
Frame of Government of Pennsylvania (1682)
Charter of Privileges (Pennsylvania) (1701)
Based on the article by Dr. Almon Way, Jr
CONSTITUTIONALISM: THE
FIRST ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT
OF MODERN DEMOCRACY
Definition of Constitution
“A constitution is the body of law that is the basic, or
fundamental, law of a politically organized society. The
Constitution is the supreme law of the political society; it is
higher than and takes precedence over all other laws of
the society. All the other laws, to be valid and enforceable,
must be in accord with the higher and superior law of the
Constitution. “
Functions of the Constitution
“In a society with a genuinely constitutional political
regime, the Constitution:
1. provides the legal foundation and basic structure, . . . of
the society's government,
2. prescribes the form and procedures of the government,
3. grants certain powers to the government,
4. designates the major organs, or institutions, of
government and the method by which the personnel-or top personnel--in each are to be selected,
Functions of the Constitution (con’t)
assigns to each major governmental institution its
particular area of authority and responsibility,
6. defines the relationship between the government and
the individual citizen as well as the relationships among
the principal organs of government, and
7. establishes the metes and bounds of political authority-i.e., imposes limits on governmental power.”
5.
Definition of Constitutionalism
“Constitutionalism is government conducted in accordance
with and within the limits set by the fundamental law of
the Constitution. . . . [C]onstitutionalism is limited
government--limited government under a constitution. A
constitutional government is one whose powers are
effectively limited by law--limited by the fundamental law of
the Constitution.
Purpose of Constitutionalism
The purpose of constitutionalism is to limit the power of
government. A constitution generally limits governmental power
by requiring the government to follow prescribed procedures in
making and enforcing official decisions and by prohibiting
altogether the government's taking certain decisions and
actions. Instead of or in addition to the foregoing method of
limiting governmental authority, a constitution may accomplish
the objective by structuring the government in such manner as
to ensure maintenance of a balance of power among the
principal organs of government.
Characteristics of Constitutionalism
To be genuinely constitutional in character, a government must
comply with two fundamental legal requirements: (1) The
government must operate in accord with the provisions of the
Constitution. (2) The government must not exceed the authority
granted to it by the Constitution. The essential features of
constitutionalism are the government's compliance with these two
basic legal requirements.
Constitutionalism is closely related to the political principle known as the "rule of
law." Under the rule of law, the law is supreme over government officeholders, who,
like ordinary citizens, are subject to and must abide by the law. Government
institutions and officers must, among other things, follow procedures prescribed by
law and observe the legally guaranteed rights and liberties of individuals.
The Foundational
Documents of the
American Legal
System
eLangdell® Press
2014
2
Table of Contents
Notices ............................................................................................................................................................ 4
Magna Carta (1215) ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Mayflower Compact (1620) .......................................................................................................................10
The Declaration of Independence (1776) ................................................................................................12
The Articles of Confederation (1777) ......................................................................................................16
The Treaty of Paris (1783) .........................................................................................................................21
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 ..........................................................................................................24
The Consitution of the United States (1787) ..........................................................................................28
The Bill of Rights (1791) ............................................................................................................................37
3
Notices
This work is licensed and published by CALI eLangdell Press under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. CALI and CALI eLangdell Press
reserve under copyright all rights not expressly granted by this Creative Commons license. CALI and
CALI eLangdell Press do not assert copyright in US Government works or other public domain
material included herein. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available through
feedback@cali.org.
In brief, the terms of that license are that you may copy, distribute, and display this work, or
make derivative works, so long as
you give CALI eLangdell Press and the author credit;
you do not use this work for commercial purposes; and
you distribute any works derived from this one under the same licensing terms as this.
CALI® and eLangdell® are United States federally registered trademarks owned by the Center
for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction. The CALI graphical logo is a trademark and may not be
used without permission.
Should you create derivative works based on the text of this book or other Creative Commons
materials therein, you may not use this book’s cover art and the aforementioned logos, or any
derivative thereof, to imply endorsement or otherwise without written permission from CALI.
This material does not contain nor is intended to be legal advice. Users seeking legal advice
should consult with a licensed attorney in their jurisdiction. The editors have endeavored to provide
complete and accurate information in this book. However, CALI does not warrant that the
information provided is complete and accurate. CALI disclaims all liability to any person for any loss
caused by errors or omissions in this collection of information.
4
Magna Carta (1215)
[Preamble] Edward by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland and duke of
Aquitaine sends greetings to all to whom the present letters come. We have inspected the great charter
of the lord Henry, late King of England, our father, concerning the liberties of England in these words:
Henry by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and
Aquitaine and count of Anjou sends greetings to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls,
barons, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all his bailiffs and faithful men inspecting the present charter.
Know that we, at the prompting of God and for the health of our soul and the souls of our ancestors
and successors, for the glory of holy Church and the improvement of our realm, freely and out of our
good will have given and granted to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and all of
our realm these liberties written below to hold in our realm of England in perpetuity.
[1] In the first place we grant to God and confirm by this our present charter for ourselves and
our heirs in perpetuity that the English Church is to be free and to have all its rights fully and its
liberties entirely. We furthermore grant and give to all the freemen of our realm for ourselves and our
heirs in perpetuity the liberties written below to have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and
our heirs in perpetuity.
[2] If any of our earls or barons, or anyone else holding from us in chief by military service
should die, and should his heir be of full age and owe relief, the heir is to have his inheritance for the
ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl for a whole county £100, the heir or heirs of a baron
for a whole barony 100 marks, the heir or heirs of a knight for a whole knight’s fee 100 shillings at
most, and he who owes less will give less, according to the ancient custom of (knights’) fees.
[3] If, however, the heir of such a person is under age, his lord is not to have custody of him
and his land until he has taken homage from the heir, and after such an heir has been in custody, when
he comes of age, namely at twenty-one years old, he is to have his inheritance without relief and
without fine, saving that if, whilst under age, he is made a knight, his land will nonetheless remain in
the custody of his lords until the aforesaid term.
[4] The keeper of the land of such an heir who is under age is only to take reasonable receipts
from the heir’s land and reasonable customs and reasonable services, and this without destruction or
waste of men or things. And if we assign custody of any such land to a sheriff or to anyone else who
should answer to us for the issues, and such a person should commit destruction or waste, we will take
recompense from him and the land will be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that fee
who will answer to us or to the person to whom we assign such land for the land’s issues. And if we
give or sell to anyone custody of any such land and that person commits destruction or waste, he is to
lose custody and the land is to be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that fee who
similarly will answer to us as is aforesaid.
[5] The keeper, for as long as he has the custody of the land of such (an heir), is to maintain the
houses, parks, fishponds, ponds, mills and other things pertaining to that land from the issues of the
same land, and he will restore to the heir, when the heir comes to full age, all his land stocked with
ploughs and all other things in at least the same condition as when he received it. All these things are to
be observed in the custodies of archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, priories, churches and vacant
offices which pertain to us, save that such custodies ought not to be sold.
[6] Heirs are to be married without disparagement.
[7] A widow, after the death of her husband, is immediately and without any difficulty to have
her marriage portion and her inheritance, nor is she to pay anything for her dower or her marriage
portion or for her inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of her husband’s death, and
she shall remain in the chief dwelling place of her husband for forty days after her husband’s death,
5
within which time dower will be assigned her if it has not already been assigned, unless that house is a
castle, and if it is a castle which she leaves, then a suitable house will immediately be provided for her
in which she may properly dwell until her dower is assigned to her in accordance with what is
aforesaid, and in the meantime she is to have her reasonable necessities (estoverium) from the
common property. As dower she will be assigned the third part of all the lands of her husband which
were his during his lifetime, save when she was dowered with less at the church door. No widow shall
be distrained to marry for so long as she wishes to live without a husband, provided that she gives
surety that she will not marry without our assent if she holds of us, or without the assent of her lord, if
she holds of another.
[8] Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as the existing
chattels of the debtor suffice for the payment of the debt and as long as the debtor is ready to pay the
debt, nor will the debtor’s guarantors be distrained for so long as the principal debtor is able to pay the
debt; and should the principal debtor default in his payment of the debt, not having the means to repay
it, or should he refuse to pay it despite being able to do so, the guarantors will answer for the debt and,
if they wish, they are to have the lands and rents of the debtor until they are repaid the debt that
previously they paid on behalf of the debtor, unless the principal debtor can show that he is quit in
respect to these guarantors.
[9] The city of London is to have all its ancient liberties and customs. Moreover we wish and
grant that all other cities and boroughs and vills and the barons of the Cinque Ports and all ports are to
have all their liberties and free customs.
[10] No-one is to be distrained to do more service for a knight’s fee or for any other free
tenement than is due from it.
[11] Common pleas are not to follow our court but are to be held in a certain fixed place.
[12] Recognisances of novel disseisin and of mort d’ancestor are not to be taken save in their
particular counties and in the following way. We or, should we be outside the realm, our chief justiciar,
will send our justices once a year to each county, so that, together with the knights of the counties, that
may take the aforesaid assizes in the counties; and those assizes which cannot be completed in that
visitation of the county by our aforesaid justices assigned to take the said assizes are to be completed
elsewhere by the justices in their visitation; and those which cannot be completed by them on account
of the difficulty of various articles (of law) are to be referred to our justices of the Bench and
completed there.
[13] Assizes of darrein presentment are always to be taken before our justices of the Bench and
are to be completed there.
[14] A freeman is not to be amerced for a small offence save in accordance with the manner of
the offence, and for a major offence according to its magnitude, saving his sufficiency (salvo
contenemento suo), and a merchant likewise, saving his merchandise, and any villain other than one of
our own is to be amerced in the same way, saving his necessity (salvo waynagio) should he fall into our
mercy, and none of the aforesaid amercements is to be imposed save by the oath of honest and
law-worthy men of the neighbourhood. Earls and barons are not to be amerced save by their peers and
only in accordance with the manner of their offence.
[15] No town or free man is to be distrained to make bridges or bank works save for those that
ought to do so of old and by right.
[16] No bank works of any sort are to be kept up save for those that were in defense in the time
of King H(enry II) our grandfather and in the same places and on the same terms as was customary in
his time.
[17] No sheriff, constable, coroner or any other of our bailiffs is to hold pleas of our crown.
[18] If anyone holding a lay fee from us should die, and our sheriff or bailiff shows our letters
patent containing our summons for a debt that the dead man owed us, our sheriff or bailiff is
6
permitted to attach and enroll all the goods and chattels of the dead man found in lay fee, to the value
of the said debt, by view of law-worthy men, so that nothing is to be removed thence until the debt
that remains is paid to us, and the remainder is to be released to the executors to discharge the will of
the dead man, and if nothing is owed to us from such a person, all the chattels are to pass to the (use
of) the dead man, saving to the dead man’s wife and children their reasonable portion.
[19] No constable or his bailiff is to take corn or other chattels from anyone who not
themselves of a vill where a castle is built, unless the constable or his bailiff immediately offers money
in payment of obtains a respite by the wish of the seller. If the person whose corn or chattels are taken
is of such a vill, then the constable or his bailiff is to pay the purchase price within forty days.
[20] No constable is to distrain any knight to give money for castle guard if the knight is willing
to do such guard in person or by proxy of any other honest man, should the knight be prevented from
doing so by just cause. And if we take or send such a knight into the army, he is to be quit of (castle)
guard in accordance with the length of time the we have him in the army for the fee for which he has
done service in the army.
[21] No sheriff or bailiff of ours or of anyone else is to take anyone’s horses or carts to make
carriage, unless he renders the payment customarily due, namely for a two-horse cart ten pence per
day, and for a three-horse cart fourteen pence per day. No demesne cart belonging to any churchman
or knight or any other lady (sic) is to be taken by our bailiffs, nor will we or our bailiffs or anyone else
take someone else’s timber for a castle or any other of our business save by the will of he to whom the
timber belongs.
[22] We shall not hold the lands of those convicted of felony save for a year and a day,
whereafter such land is to be restored to the lords of the fees.
[23] All fish weirs (kidelli) on the Thames and the Medway and throughout England are to be
entirely dismantled, save on the sea coast.
[24] The writ called ‘praecipe’ is not to be issued to anyone in respect to any free tenement in
such a way that a free man might lose his court.
[25] There is to be a single measure for wine throughout our realm, and a single measure for
ale, and a single measure for Corn, that is to say the London quarter, and a single breadth for dyed
cloth, russets, and haberjects, that is to say two yards within the lists. And it shall be the same for
weights as for measures.
[26] Henceforth there is to be nothing given for a writ of inquest from the person seeking an
inquest of life or member, but such a writ is to be given freely and is not to be denied.
[27] If any persons hold from us at fee farm or in socage or burgage, and hold land from
another by knight service, we are not, by virtue of such a fee farm or socage or burgage, to have
custody of the heir or their land which pertains to another’s fee, nor are we to have custody of such a
fee farm or socage or burgage unless this fee farm owes knight service. We are not to have the custody
of an heir or of any land which is held from another by knight service on the pretext of some small
serjeanty held from us by service of rendering us knives or arrows or suchlike things.
[28] No bailiff is henceforth to put any man on his open law or on oath simply by virtue of his
spoken word, without reliable witnesses being produced for the same.
[29] No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his free tenement or of his
liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go against such a man
or send against him save by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no-one will we
sell or deny of delay right or justice.
[30] All merchants, unless they have been previously and publicly forbidden, are to have safe
and secure conduct in leaving and coming to England and in staying and going through England both
by land and by water to buy and to sell, without any evil exactions, according to the ancient and right
customs, save in time of war, and if they should be from a land at war against us and be found in our
7
land at the beginning of the war, they are to be attached without damage to their bodies or goods until
it is established by us or our chief justiciar in what way the merchants of our land are treated who at
such a time are found in the land that is at war with us, and if our merchants are safe there, the other
merchants are to be safe in our land.
[31] If anyone dies holding of any escheat such as the honour of Wallingford, Boulogne,
Nottingham, Lancaster or of other escheats which are in our hands and which are baronies, his heir is
not to give any other relief or render any other service to us that would not have been rendered to the
baron if the barony were still held by a baron, and we shall hold such things in the same way as the
baron held them, nor, on account of such a barony or escheat, are we to have the escheat or custody of
any of our men unless the man who held the barony or the escheat held elsewhere from us in chief.
[32] No free man is henceforth to give or sell any more of his land to anyone, unless the residue
of his land is sufficient to render due service to the lord of the fee as pertains to that fee.
[33] All patrons of abbeys which have charters of the kings of England over advowson or
ancient tenure or possession are to have the custody of such abbeys when they fall vacant just as they
ought to have and as is declared above.
[34] No-one is to be taken or imprisoned on the appeal of woman for the death of anyone save
for the death of that woman’s husband.
[35] No county court is to be held save from month to month, and where the greater term used
to be held, so will it be in future, nor will any sheriff or his bailiff make his tourn through the hundred
save for twice a year and only in the place that is due and customary, namely once after Easter and
again after Michaelmas, and the view of frankpledge is to be taken at the Michaelmas term without
exception, in such a way that every man is to have his liberties which he had or used to have in the time
of King H(enry II) my grandfather or which he has acquired since. The view of frankpledge is to be
taken so that our peace be held and so that the tithing is to be held entire as it used to be, and so that
the sheriff does not seek exceptions but remains content with that which the sheriff used to have in
taking the view in the time of King H(enry) our grandfather.
[36] Nor is it permitted to anyone to give his land to a religious house in such a way that he
receives it back from such a house to hold, nor is it permitted to any religious house to accept the land
of anyone in such way that the land is restored to the person from whom it was received to hold. If
anyone henceforth gives his land in such a way to any religious house and is convicted of the same, the
gift is to be entirely quashed and such land is to revert to the lord of that fee.
[37] Scutage furthermore is to be taken as it used to be in the time of King H(enry) our
grandfather, and all liberties and free customs shall be preserved to archbishops, bishops, abbots,
priors, Templars, Hospitallers, earls, barons and all others, both ecclesiastical and secular persons, just
as they formerly had.
All these aforesaid customs and liberties which we have granted to be held in our realm in so
far as pertains to us are to be observed by all of our realm, both clergy and laity, in so far as pertains to
them in respect to their own men. For this gift and grant of these liberties and of others contained in
our charter over the liberties of the forest, the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons,
knights, fee holders and all of our realm have given us a fifteenth part of all their movable goods.
Moreover we grant to them for us and our heirs that neither we nor our heirs will seek anything by
which the liberties contained in this charter might be infringed or damaged, and should anything be
obtained from anyone against this it is to count for nothing and to be held as nothing. With these
witnesses: the lord S(tephen) archbishop of Canterbury, E(ustace) bishop of London, J(ocelin) bishop
of Bath, P(eter) bishop of Winchester, H(ugh) bishop of Lincoln, R(ichard) bishop of Salisbury, W.
bishop of Rochester, W(illiam) bishop of Worcester, J(ohn) bishop of Ely, H(ugh) bishop of
Hereford, R(anulf) bishop of Chichester, W(illiam) bishop of Exeter, the abbot of (Bury) St Edmunds,
the abbot of St Albans, the abbot of Battle, the abbot of St Augustine’s Canterbury, the abbot of
8
Evesham, the abbot of Westminster, the abbot of Peterborough, the abbot of Reading, the abbot of
Abingdon, the abbot of Malmesbury, the abbot of Winchcombe, the abbot of Hyde (Winchester), the
abbot of Chertsey, the abbot of Sherborne, the abbot of Cerne, the abbot of Abbotsbury, the abbot of
Milton (Abbas), the abbot of Selby, the abbot of Cirencester, H(ubert) de Burgh the justiciar, H. earl of
Chester and Lincoln, W(illiam) earl of Salisbury, W(illiam) earl Warenne, G. de Clare earl of Gloucester
and Hertford, W(illiam) de Ferrers earl of Derby, W(illiam) de Mandeville earl of Essex, H(ugh) Bigod
earl of Norfolk, W(illiam) earl Aumale, H(umphrey) earl of Hereford, J(ohn) constable of Chester,
R(obert) de Ros, R(obert) fitz Walter, R(obert) de Vieuxpont, W(illiam) Brewer, R(ichard) de
Montfiquet, P(eter) fitz Herbert, W(illiam) de Aubigné, G. Gresley, F. de Braose, J(ohn) of
Monmouth, J(ohn) fitz Alan, H(ugh) de Mortemer, W(illiam) de Beauchamp, W(illiam) de St John,
P(eter) de Maulay, Brian de Lisle, Th(omas) of Moulton, R(ichard) de Argentan, G(eoffrey) de Neville,
W(illiam) Mauduit, J(ohn) de Baalon and others. Given at Westminster on the eleventh day of
February in the ninth year of our reign.
We, holding these aforesaid gifts and grants to be right and welcome, conceed and confirm
them for ourselves and our heirs and by the terms of the present (letters) renew them, wishing and
granting for ourselves and our heirs that the aforesaid charter is to be firmly and inviably observed in
all and each of its articles in perpetuity, including any articles contained in the same charter which by
chance have not to date been observed. In testimony of which we have had made these our letters
patent. Witnessed by Edward our son, at Westminster on the twelfth day of October in the
twenty-fifth year of our reign. (Chancery warranty by John of) Stowe.
9
Mayflower Compact (1620)
In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our
dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King,
Defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian
faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of
Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another,
covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and
preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame
such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be
thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due
submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod,
the eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord,
King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno
Dom. 1620.
SPECIAL_IMAGE-http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/images/ftr_rc_bg.gif-REPLACE_ME
John Carver
William Brewster
John Alden
William Mullins
John Craxton
John Howland
John Tilly
Thomas Tinker
John Turner
Digery Priest
Edmond Margeson
Richard Clark
Thomas English
John Goodman William Bradford
Isaac Allerton
Samuel Fuller
William White
John Billington
Steven Hopkins
Francis Cook
John Rigdale
Francis Eaton
Thomas Williams
Peter Brown
Richard Gardiner
Edward Doten
George Soule Edward Winslow
Miles Standish
Christopher Martin
10
James Chilton
Richard Warren
Edward Tilly
Thomas Rogers
Edward Fuller
Moses Fletcher
Gilbert Winslow
Richard Bitteridge
John Allerton
Edward Liester
11
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly
all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new
Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is
now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of
the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be
submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless
suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly
neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those
people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions
on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the
Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise;
the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and
convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws
for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and
raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
12
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing
Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and
payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people,
and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit
on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an
Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the
Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us
in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death,
desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in
the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their
Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their
Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants
of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus
marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from
time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have
reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their
native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to
disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in
the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind,
Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress,
13
Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the
Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That
these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are
Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and
the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States,
they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do
all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this
Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
14
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
15
The Articles of Confederation (1777)
To all to whom these Presents shall come, we, the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed
to our Names send greeting. Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in Congress
assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven
Hundred and Seventy seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain
articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of Newhampshire,
Massachusetts-bay, Rhodeisland and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in the
Words following, viz. “Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of
Newhampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhodeisland and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia.
Article I. The Stile of this confederacy shall be, “The United States of America.”
Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power,
Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in
Congress assembled.
Article III. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each
other, for their common defence, the security of their Liberties, and their mutual and general welfare,
binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any
of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.
Article IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the
people of the different states in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers,
vagabonds and fugitives from Justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free
citizens in the several states; and the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and
from any other state, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the
same duties, impositions and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such
restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any state, to any
other State of which the Owner is an inhabitant; provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction
shall be laid by any state, on the property of the united states, or either of them.
If any Person guilty of, or charged with, treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any
state, shall flee from Justice, and be found in any of the united states, he shall upon demand of the
Governor or executive power of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, and removed to the
state having jurisdiction of his offence.
Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these states to the records, acts and judicial
proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state.
Article V. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the united states,
delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state shall direct, to
meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each state
to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for
the remainder of the Year.
No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by more than seven Members;
and no person shall be capable of being delegate for more than three years, in any term of six years; nor
shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the united states, for which
he, or another for his benefit receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.
Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states, and while they act as
members of the committee of the states.
16
In determining questions in the united states, in Congress assembled, each state shall have
one vote.
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any
Court, or place out of Congress, and the members of congress shall be protected in their persons from
arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on congress,
except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
Article VI. No State, without the Consent of the united States, in congress assembled, shall
send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conferrence, agreement, alliance,
or treaty, with any King prince or state; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under
the united states, or any of them, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind
whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state; nor shall the united states, in congress assembled, or
any of them, grant any title of nobility.
No two or more states shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alliance whatever between
them, without the consent of the united states, in congress assembled, specifying accurately the
purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.
No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties,
entered into by the united States in congress assembled, with any king, prince, or State, in pursuance of
any treaties already proposed by congress, to the courts of France and Spain.
No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace, by any state, except such number only, as
...
Purchase answer to see full
attachment