Short Essay- Colonists and Self Government

            In the early English government the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights were created. These two documents are very close to each other. The Magna Carta limited the rights of the king using limited government. The Magna Carta applied to only the wealthy nobility at first but over time other groups gained liberties to it. The English Bill of Rights gave civil liberties to the American colonists and the people in England. The English Bill of Rights used influences from the Magna Carta in its creation. The main points of the English Bill of Rights are that monarchs do not have the divine right to rule, they are now elected to Parliament; the Parliament must give the monarch permission to create taxes, maintain the army, and to suspend laws; The Parliament’s elections and debates were not allowed to be interfered with at all by the monarch. It also gave the people the right to a fair and speedy trial and to petition the government and made it law that people would not be unjustly tortured and punished or excessively fined or bailed. These two documents are very closely related.

            John Locke was an English philosopher who first said that people are born free, equal, and independent, they also possess rights to life, liberty, and property. He and his philosophy were widely known throughout England and the American colonies. He said many revolutionary things for his time, such as that if a government is not benefitting its people it can be changed for the better. He also claimed that people had not been born with an obligation to obey their ruler or tyrant. John Locke was very innovative for his time period.

            Early governments in the colonies sprouted from the colonists from England believing that they retained their citizens rights that they had been granted through the English Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. The colonists were forced to come up with a way to govern themselves that everyone in the colony agreed with. Eventually majority if not all of the colonies had created their own democracies. All white males and anyone who owned property could vote. They came up with their own laws for their colonies and their own constitution, a legislature, and the separation of powers.

            Colonists felt that they deserved their rights as mush as the English citizens did. Due to the creation of the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and John Locke’s philosophies they had the idea of a working and fair government and believed that was what they should be given. In the end, they made their own governments and took care of themselves.