Our Political Beginnings
Big Idea
The English tradition of ordered, limited, and
representative government served as the basis
of colonial governments.
What do you know
WithKyou neighbor please
L discuss and W
brainstorm what you already know about the
Revolutionary Period.
How do we start?
• The colonist brought with them a rich
political tradition
• Specifically
• Magna Carta
• English Petition of Rights
• English Bill of Rights
Magna Carta
• King John: 1215
• Limited power of
government
• Monarch's power could be
limited by citizens
• Fundamental Rights
• Trial by jury
• Due Process of Law
English Petition of Rights
• Early document supporting the idea that
men have rights and establishing the
concept of rule of law
• Included basic rights
•
•
•
•
trial by jury
Protection against marshal law
protection from quartering of troops
Protection of private property
English Bill of Rights
• Limited power of the
monarch
• no standing army in
peacetime
• Free Elections
• Rights of petition
• Parliamentary checks on
power
Vocabulary to know
• Bicameral:
• consisting of two houses, as in a legislature
• Unicameral:
• consisting of one house, as in a legislature
• Limited Government:
• the idea that government is not all powerful
Who am I...
In your groups I will give you clues and you
will have to guess the name of the person
from the clues
Write the name on your white board and hold
it up
make sure no one sees your guess
Who is this person
John Locke
1st President of the
United States and
President of the
Continental Congress
George Washington
George Mason
Wrote the Virginia
Declaration of
Rights
Ben Franklin
Rousseau
2nd President of the
United States & a
founding father
John Adams
Thomas Hobbes
Believed that people
were wicked and the
government must be
strong to control them
Sam Adams
George Washington
Oldest member of the
2nd Continental
Congress
Ben Franklin
Sam Adams
Leaders of the Sons
of Liberty
James Madison
John Jay
Wrote Two Treatises
of Government: Life,
Liberty and Property
John Locke
Rousseau
Argued that
sovereignty should
be in the hands of the
people
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
Helped to write the
federalist papers
Pres of the
Continental Congress
John Jay
Thomas Jefferson
Wrote the Dec. of
Independence. 3rd
President of the US
Thomas Hobbes
George Mason
Known as the Father
of the Constitution
James Madison