Part I. Text 1: a glimpse of british political history

American political system is deeply rooted in the principles developed in the course of British political history.

In 1689 the English Parliament, which had originated in the 1200s, passed the English Bill of Rights. This document, a landmark in the development of democratic government, was very important to the American colonists.

The English Bill of Rights set clear limits on what the ruler could and could not do. It applied to the American colonists — who were English subjects — as well as to the people in England. Incorporating elements from the Magna Carta*, the key ideas of the English Bill of Rights included the following ideas. Monarchs do not have a divine right to rule, they rule with the consent of the people's representatives in Parliament. The monarch must have Parliament's consent to suspend laws, levy taxes, or maintain an army. The monarch cannot interfere with parliamentary elections and debates. The people have a right to petition the government and to have a fair and speedy trial by a jury of their peers. The people should not be subject to cruel and unusual punishments or to excessive fines and bail.

The English colonists in North America shared a belief in these rights with the people of England. A major cause of the American Revolution was that the colonists felt they were being deprived of these basic rights.

The colonists had a firm belief in representative government, in which people elect delegates to make laws and conduct government. The colonists had also experienced representative government. Parliament was a representative assembly with the power to enact laws.

In America legislatures grew directly out of this English practice of having Parliament pass laws.

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*MagnaCarta — Великая Хартия Вольностей

Text 2: the english political heritage

During the 1600s people from many regions, such as Spain, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Norway, and West Africa, settled in North America. Most colonists, however, came from England. It was the English who established and governed the original thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast.

The English colonists brought with them ideas about government that had been developing in England for centuries. By the 1600s English government offered its citizens political liberties, such as trial by jury, that were largely unknown elsewhere. At the heart of the English system were two principles of government. These principles — limited government and representative government — greatly influenced the development of the United States.

By the time the first colonists reached North America, the idea that government was not all-powerful had become an accepted part of the English system. The idea first appeared in the Magna Carta*, or Great Charter, that King John signed in 1215. The Magna Carta established the principle of limited government, in which the power of the monarch, or government, was limited, not absolute. This document provided for protection against unjust punishment and the loss of life, liberty, and property except according to law. Under the Magna Carta, the king agreed that certain taxes could not be levied without popular consent.

The rights in the Magna Carta originally applied only to the nobility. During the next few centuries, however, other groups won political liberties, primarily through agreements between English monarchs and the nobility and merchants.

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*MagnaCarta — Великая Хартия Вольностей