The Roots of the Constitution By Mr. G

Roots of Representative Government Definition of Representative Government-a person who represents, or stands up for, a constituency or community in a legislative body. An example would be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives or a lower house in certain state legislatures.

Roots of Representative Government (Slide 2) In 1215, a group of English noblemen (rich landowners) forced King John to accept the Magna Carta (Great Charter). This document guaranteed important rights to noblemen and freemen. Over time, the rights the Magna Carta listed were granted to ALL English people. One of the most important English rights was the right to elect representatives to government.

Roots of Representative Government (Slide 3) Parliament, England’s main lawmaking group, was the colonists’ model for representative government. In 1688, William and Mary, on the throne of England, agreed to uphold the English Bill of Rights. This was an agreement to respect the rights of English citizens and of Parliament. The American colonists were quick to claim these rights as their own.

The Declaration of Independence After more than 150 years of living under British rule, most colonists (we were not America yet) felt the need to separate. The First and Second Continental Congress (a collection of Colonial leaders) met to discuss how we would separate from British rule. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted as the document that would be sent to King George III to announce our independence

The Declaration of Independence (Slide 2) The Declaration was made up of five main parts: The Preamble (the explanation why ALL men have the right to be free and independent.) The Right of the People to Control Their Government (People have the right to proper representation in the process of running their government, not have that decided by a King) Tyrannical Acts of the King (All the laws, acts, and cruelties committed by the King were put down for the King to see.)

The Declaration of Independence (Slide 3) Efforts of the Colonies to Avoid Separation (The colonists told all the ways they tried to get equal rights, in the British system, that they failed to receive.) The Colonies are Declared Free and Independent (After giving all the reasons listed before, the colonists told the King they had no choice but separate from England.)

The Declaration of Independence (Slide 4) The Declaration of Independence was important for the colonies because it gave us a reason for separating (not all colonists wanted to separate from England) from our “parent”. It also provided the ideas/principles we would use to create our own government. “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- Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

The Declaration of Independence (Slide 5) Vocabulary Self-evident- easy for all people to see and understand. Endowed- given to us by God. Unalienable- can’t be taken away from us by any person or government.

The King’s Reaction After the Declaration was given to the King, he began to send more soldiers to the colonies to end the rebellion. The colonies had to “unite” to have a chance against the British. 20 to 30 percent of the colonists were on the British side, so building an army was difficult. Despite this, the Continental Army (the colonies) defeated the British and we became the “United States of America” with the signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1783.