Unit 1: Chapter 3 Flashcards
What was the greatest influence on the development of English law and government ?
The Bible
What two men translated the Bible into the English language ?
John Wycliffe and William Tyndale
What is common law ?
A non-codified form of law based on long-accepted customs and traditions
Who prefaced his edition of the English law code with the Ten Commandments ?
Alfred the Great
What is Henry Braxton called ?
“Father of the Common Law”
Who wrote “Institutes of the Common Law” ?
Sir Edward Coke
Who wrote “Commentaries on the Laws of England” ?
Sir William Blackstone
What did King Henry II lay the foundation for ?
Trial by jury
What is trial by jury ?
A man is judged guilty or not guilty by a group of his peers
What trials did trial by jury take the place of ?
- Trial by ordeal
2. Trial by combat
What is limited representative government ?
- The king’s power was limited
2. This limitation led to the development of representative government
What did the Anglo-Saxon kings govern through ?
The Witan
What were the two bodies in the Witan ?
- Great Council
2. King’s Court
What happened by the year 1265?
Meetings of the Great Council were being referred to as Parliament
Who was in charge of the first meeting of government, the beginning of representative government in England ?
Simon de Montfort
Who developed Model Parliament and when?
Edward I in 1295
What were the two divisions of Parliament ?
The House of Lords - the upper house
The House of Commons - the lower house
Who signed the Magna Carta in what year ?
King John in 1215
What did Parliament become ?
The model for the colonies legislatures in America and for the U. S. Congress.
Who was forced to sign the Petition of Right which reaffirmed certain English liberties ?
Charles I
What bill strictly limited the English monarch’s power ?
The English Bill of Rights of 1689
What document did not establish a civil government but expressed the desire of a people that a civil government be established ?
The Mayflower Compact
What was a royal colony?
A colony that was a part of the king’s domain and was directly under his control
What was a proprietary colony ?
A colony that the king had granted to his proprietor
What two colonies were self-governing ?
Rhode Island and Connecticut
What is a charter ?
A document issued by the crown which established the relationship between the king and his subjects
Give two examples of attempts by the New England colonies to conform colonial law to biblical law.
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties
New Haven Colony Laws
What is a higher law ?
A law above the law
What was the first representative assembly in the colonies ?
The House of Burgesses
What does bicameral mean ?
Composed of two houses
What does unicameral mean ?
One house
What were the two houses in a bicameral legislature ? Which was more powerful ?
- The Upper and lower houses
2. The lower house
What was the main unit of government in the New England colonies ?
The town
What was the town meeting system ?
Through it, local citizens assembled periodically to become the chief lawmaking body for their town.
What was the local unit of government in the southern states ?
A county
What was the Great Awakening ?
The spiritual revival which swept the American colonies between 1730 and 1760
Who were two great preachers from the Great Awakening ?
Johnathan Edwards and George Whitefield
What was the first attempt at political unity among the colonies ?
The New England Confederation
What Plan did Benjamin Franklin propose ?
The Albany Plan
What English king was determined to restore the power of the monarchy by supporting men in Parliament who would vote as he directed ?
George III
Who were allies of the Americans in the British Parliament ?
William Pitt and Edmund Burk
According to the Stamp Act Congress, why were the colonists not under the authority of Parliament?
It was because they were not represented in Parliament.
What protested the stamp act and other British regulations which the colonists felt were illegal ?
The Declaration of Rights and Grievances
What were the “Intolerable Acts”?
A series of laws to punish the colonists
What governing body pledged the loyalty of the colonists to the Crown but protested Parliamentary interference with American rights ?
The First Continental Congress
What was America’s first central government ?
The Second Continental Congress
What act cut off trade between the colonies and England and removed the the colonies from the “King’s Protection “?
The Prohibitory Act
Who said that the United States ought to declare independence ?
Richard Harvey Lee
Who was the chairman of the committee ?
What year was the document signed ?
What document declared America’s independence ?
- Thomas Jefferson
- July 4, 1776
- Declaration of Independence
