Magna Carta
(1215) a charter of liberties (freedoms) that King John "Lackland" of Englad was forced to sign; it made the king obey the same laws as the citizens of his kingdom
English Bills of Rights
1689, stripped power to the people from the king
Individual Rights
rights guaranteed or belonging to a person
Due Process
fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially as a citizen's entitlement.
Parliament
A body of representatives that makes laws for a nation
Democracy
A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
Hobbes
social contract theory and believes in a strong leader
Locke
natural rights: life, liberty, property
Rousseau and Montesquieu
Separation of power
Voltaire
Freedom of speech
Stamp Act
1765; law that taxed printed goods, including: playing cards, documents, newspapers, etc.
Tea Act
Law passed by parliament allowing the British East India Company to sell its low-cost tea directly to the colonies - undermining colonial tea merchants; led to the Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Boston colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.
Thomas Jefferson
Wrote the Declaration of Independence
Mayflower Compact
1620 - The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony.
House of Burgesses
Elected assembly in colonial Virginia, created in 1618.
What did England practiced
Salutary Neglect
Thomas Paine
Author of Common Sense