Sunday, September 25, 2011

What elements of English political heritage affected the American colonies?

  This question arises from your unit outline as an "Essential Understanding."  The reason this question is considered "essential" is due to the overwhelming influence of England (eventually Great Britain) over the colonies on the North American continent.  English political heritage was brought to the colonies on board the very first English ship to land on American shores.  However, approximately 300 years before the English instituted formal colonies in North America, the power of the English crown was limited by the Magna Carta in 1215.  Limiting government was the first step to the American system.
  The American colonists were heavily influenced by English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.  The Declaration of Independence is loaded with lines "borrowed" almost verbatim from Hobbes' Leviathan and Locke's Two Treatises on Government.  To begin with, the statement "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" originally read "life, liberty, and property" in the English version.  Defining rights at "unalienable" and declaring that it is the right of citizens to alter or abolish governments should they cease to serve the people comes directly from John Locke!
  This is just a small bit of insight into the English political heritage in the American colonies.  Your assignment for this blog is to create a list of the documents that affected American colonists before, during, and after the Revolution.

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