Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

The Magna Carta

Name: Shira Sobol

Date: September 26, 2017

Class: 8th Grade - U.S. History & Geography

 
Slides and Notes 
Slide Student Notes

Origins of the U.S. Constitution

Title 
Unit 2: Lesson 1

Discuss the significance of the Magna Carta, the

Goal 
English Bill of Rights, and the Mayflower Compact.

The Founding Fathers 

- Founding Fathers: The word for people who

framed (wrote) the constitution
- The Writers of the US Constitution wanted a
document that stated:
1. Expressly states the power of government.
2. To state the limitations of government, and
what government couldn’t do.
3. By stating the things government could not do,
they were protecting the rights of the people.
They were concerned that a large government
would take power away from the people, so the
way they practiced (controlled) this is by
Founding Fathers  putting limitations and restrictions on the
government

4. The US constitution document would be the

highest document of the land. Meaning separate
states could write their own documents and
government, but if you wrote a limitation
against the US constitution it would
automatically be overruled by the US
constitution (13 colonies could have their own
state governments but it would never be above
the US constitution.

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

● Liberty (The idea of freedom for all)​:

○ The American Revolution was fought
based off of Liberty.

○ Liberty meant freedom as a group. People

were able to do whatever they wanted.

● Justice ​(The idea that there will be a body of

government that will provide punishments for
those who have done wrong)

○ In addition to liberty, there was also

“Personal Freedom” ​that they had to
guarantee (e.g. freedom of speech)
freedom as an ​individual.
Constitutional Ideas 
● Rule of Law​ = Social contract/Order (the idea
that the government is the highest law and the
people will obey).

● ​ Government’s Responsibilities”​ (the 3

“
branches)
○ They had to have a structure with the
government which was the Government’s
Responsibilities which was basically the 3
branches of Government (Congress,
Executive, Judicial)
○ What were the government's
responsibilities in order to maintain the
people's rights of life, liberty, and
happiness?

● The origins of the US Constitution (and thus,

American government) are found from
background ideas and in the following areas:

○ The American Experience up to 1781: The

Where do 
experience of Americans (taxation that
Constitutional Ideas 
they believed was unfair, experience
Come From? 
living in the wild west, they felt like
justice and order was needed, rebellions,
etc.) led the Americans to believe that
these constitutional ideas, Justice and
Liberty, were very important to them.

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

● Past Governing Documents

● British Traditions that are used in the American
Government = The two houses, the House of
Representatives and the Senate.

*Both British documents (Magna Carta and English Bill

of Rights) was not signed, done or implemented by
America, they were all signed in England. Both
documents were responsible for limiting the
government, while still extending peoples rights.

● Magna Carta
○ The Magna Carta was written in the early
1200s.
○ Even though this document was written a
long time, long before the founding
fathers they still used it in their own
government.
○ The philosophy that came out of the
Magna Carta are foundational to
American government style.
3 Past Governing 
Documents  ● The English Bill of Rights
○ The English Bill of Rights was written in
the late 1600s
○ Provided the founding fathers with
examples about limiting government
power and extending personal rights.

● The Mayflower Compact (American Document)

○ The original compact was lost, so it was
re-written.
○ It was written during the same time as the
English Bill of Rights which was the early
1600s (original document).
○ It was a way for Americans to govern
themselves.
○ The first American document of self
government.

The Magna Carta 

Background:   ● King John of England was first associated with

King John of  the Magna Carta and was hated by the British
England  people.

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

● Reasons why he was hated:

○ It was believed that he had killed a
relative/cousin to ascend the throne, so
people thought he was illegitimate.
○ He wasted money while he was in office as
a king, and lost a lot of money as well as a
large chunk of English owned land from
France and the citizens of England were
furious about this especially because not
only did they lose their land, but they lost
it to France, which at the time, was their
arch-nemesis.
○ During the 1200s, The official church was
rising to power, so he argued with the
official church because in a way he was a
dictator, he wanted all the power, and the
church was trying to take away from that.
And because he was arguing with them
the people were very angry about this.
○ He wanted all the power and when he
realized that the Church was rising to
power he knew he had to do something.
○ But, Instead of solving the problem
himself, he decided to raise taxes to pay
for all of his problems.
● In 1215 the Barons (the noble people, an elite)
took action because they couldn’t stand his
behavior anymore because King John had
severely irritated his Barons.

● The English Barons didn’t just kidnap the king,

but they took over all of London in 1215 and
forced King John to sign the Magna Carta.
● A legend states that the Barons took King John
into a meadow and threatened to kill him if he
wouldn’t sign the contract.
Background:  ● They forced him to admit that the King isn’t
English Barons   above the law. Meaning he can’t tax people
without permission from Parliament, he can’t
kill people and think he’s above it, he can’t keep
losing money and land, etc.
● Because of this, the Barons forced the King to
recognize that they had certain rights that can’t
be taken away from them, and that those rights

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

are extremely valid, so they wrote it down in a

document, which was then, later known as the
Magna Carta.

Comparing King George and King John:

● In 1776 the American Revolution Happened:
The connections were:
- The English Barons were mad at King John over
taxation.
- The Americans were mad at King George III for
the same reason.

- The Founding Fathers of America used the

Connections! 
Magna Carta as a justification to rebel from
England.
- Both Kings taxed the people which led to
complete rebellion.

*King John was associated with the“Magna Carta” and

King George III was associated with the “US
Constitution”

● Magna Carta:
○ Protects the rights of others (protected
the barons rights specifically, protects
someone either than the royalty, at the
time didn’t protect poor people's rights,
etc.)
○ That the Kings not above the law (not god,
just a ruler)
○ Kings cannot tax without Great Council
(At the time English Parliament, which
U.S. Constitution:  was their governing body at the time)
A Comparison  permission.
● US Constitution:
○ Protects citizens rights
○ No one is above the law (We can arrest a
big judge, for example: Impeachment)
○ Presidents cannot tax without Congress’s
permission
○ Taxation only comes with Congress, for
example if a representative increases
taxes, then the people wouldn’t vote for
them, therefore Presidents cannot tax

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

without Congress’s permission.

The English Bill of Rights 

● When it was originally practiced it was called

the “Declaration of Rights” but then when it
was finally passed by Parliament it became
known as “The English Bill of Rights”
● Parliament passed it into law in 1689
Background:  ● Very important because it was Foundational to
Declaration and  American and Britian Law.
Date  ● It become foundational for English Common
Law (England’s Constitution)
● The English Bill of Rights inspired the
Declaration of Independence, Articles of
Confederation, US constitution, and the
American Bill of Rights

- The Glorious Revolution inspired the English

Bill of Rights
- The people hated King James II and wanted to
replace him with somebody who would be more
friendly to the peasants, not just with the
Barons.
- So the people they wanted to replace them with
was the monarch pair, William, and English
man, and Mary who was his wife, but not
Background:  English.
Glorious Revolution  - So the people decided to overthrow him and
then ended up replacing him with the monarch
pair of William and Mary.
- 1600s or 17th Century
- King George = American Revolution, King James
= Glorious Revolution, King John = Magna Carta

Most important to know: ​That the Glorious Revolution

was connected to the English Bill of Rights, and
inspired it to be written.

- Before William and Mary could agree to become

king and queen, they were forced to agree to the
Background: 
English Bill of Rights
Parliament to 
- Parliament said that English ​citizens (not
William & Mary 
just Barons)​ had certain civil (life and
liberty, the rights you have as a human

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

being) and political rights (voting rights,

and that people could participate in
government) that could not be taken
away.

Guaranteed Freedoms:

- Jury trials (you'll have your peers help judge

you, whether as just a judge)
- No excessive bail
- Free elections to Parliament (People didn’t need
Background: 
to pay people to run in government)
Governmental 
- Free speech in Parliament (Actual citizen can go
Freedoms 
to parliament and speak
- Right to bare arms
- Free to petition the King
- No taxation without Parliament's approval
- No cruel or unusual punishment

Constitutional ideas with similarities to the English

Bill of Rights:
- Individual rights protected
- Congress (the Legislative Branch) controls
taxation
U.S. Constitution:  - Congress raises and supports an army
A Comparison  - No quartering of troops
- Sets up rules for regular elections
- Right to a jury trial
- Both limits powers of the president (or King) so
they don’t take away from people's unalienable
rights.

Mayflower Compact 

- People are leaving England, leaving the

Netherlands, to find a better life in America.
Once the English Bill of Rights is created then
people stop leaving, but up till then people were
Background:  leaving to go find a better life with better
Location and Date  opportunities.
- Early 1600s, The Mayflower Compact came
before the English Bill Rights
- Was written on November 11, 1620,
Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

- In 1620, the pilgrims left England and intended

to go to Virginia, Instead they ended up in New
England, To stop the arguing that had been
occurring on the ship, the 41 pilgrim men signed
Background:  the Mayflower, Compact. It became their first
The Pilgrims   government.
- They were aiming to go to Virginia but they
ended up in New England due to their
arguments on the boat. And yes, they did know
where they were, unlike Columbus.

- Was a ​constitution​ for the new colony, which

ended up becoming Massachusetts, not for
America as a whole. But it is important to
remember that there were people living in
Massachusetts before the colony formed.
- It laid a basis for people to cooperate together
Background: 
even though they had really different political
Cooperation as 
views.
Government 
- Agreed to set up “just and equal” laws
- Set up a way to add to or ​change laws,
Amendments​ (a way to change laws that were
already initially written).
- Social Contract Theory = Had cooperation of all,
to follow the ideas of the document

Mayflower Compact and US Constitution:

- Each a supreme law, meaning this would be the
document and you couldn’t go further than that.
- Both set up civil governments, meaning people
could have a state government and a federal
government as well, as long as it was agreed
what the federal government or law was (pretty
much you could have a government inside of
another government.)
U.S. Constitution: 
- Based on “just and equal laws”, everyone
A Comparison 
wanted rules and laws to be fair.
- Each provided ways to amend laws in
government (change) which is why we had so
many American Documents in the beginning of
our US history.
- Both became the basis for other colonial
charters, if any state wants to become it’s own
state, then they needed to submit a charter to
the federal government which would include all

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 8th Grade History Unit 2: Lesson 1 

of the states constitutions.

- The main point is that the Magna Carta, English

Bill of Rights, Mayflower Compact influenced all
the American documents: Declaration of
In Conclusion 
Independence, Continental Congress, Articles of
Confederation, US constitution, and Bill of
Rights, to be created and established.
 

 
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