How Did The English Bill Of Rights Influence Colonial America

Influences on Colonial America

Although the United States is a great nation today, America had to overcome many obstacles to become what it is. The United States was influenced by many things throughout England's history. The most important documents in the creation of the United States government were the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and "Common Sense." These documents laid the foundation that our government was built on and shaped the rights we have today. Without these documents, America would not be the glorious nation it is today.

The Magna Carta was a revolutionary document that, for the first time, declared that the king and government of England were required to abide by the laws they created. It was also declared that

In 1689, the English Bill of Rights was signed into law by Sir William the third after King James the second was overthrown. It was proposed by the English Parliament to establish free elections and freedom of speech in hopes of taking power away from the monarchy and giving some of it back to the individual. At the time, speaking out against the king was illegal and there were no fair elections. When the English Bill of Rights was signed into law, citizens were given the right to free speech and elections became more diverse, among other rights. The English Bill of Rights says, "And they do claim, demand and insist upon all and singular the premises as their undoubted rights and liberties, and that no declarations, judgements, doings or proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example." This essentially declared that the rights of an individual cannot be taken away or otherwise declared null by a political body. This also applied to elections in the sense that political opponents could not be oppressed. We see these policies present in modern America in our basic rights and elections. No man can be imprisoned unlawfully and our democratic elections were built on the basis of free election that was established in the English Bill of Rights. Many other ideas that were presented in this document are still reflected in