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

The Magna Carta

Name: Blake Hecht

Date: 9/26/17

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 

● The people who wrote the U.S. Constitution

● Wanted a document that stated
○ Power of government
Founding Fathers 
○ Limitations of government
○ How to protect the rights of the people
○ It was the highest law of the land

● Important values of the founding fathers

○ Liberty (group)
■ freedom
○ Justice
■ Government body that will punish
○ Personal freedoms (individual)
Constitutional Ideas 
■ Freedom of speech
■ Freedom of press
■ Freedom of religion
○ Rule of law (social contract, order)
○ Government's responsibilities (three
branches of government)

● Background knowledge (why these had these

Where do  values)
Constitutional Ideas  ○ American experience until 1781
Come From?  ○ Past governing documents
○ British Traditions

3 Past Governing  ● 3 past governing document

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

Documents  ○ Magna Carta and The English Bill of Rights

■ Early 1200s and late 1600s
■ British documents
■ limiting government power
■ extend to personal rights.
■ Ideas were valued by the founding
fathers
○ The Mayflower Compact
■ Early 1600s
■ First American document of self
document

The Magna Carta 

● Hated
○ Accused to have killed a relative to
become a King
○ Lost a large piece of English owned land in
Background:   France
King John  ○ Argued with the church
○ Tried to raise taxes
○ By 1215 he had made his Barons very mad
■ Barons were the noble people of
England

● Took over London in 1215

● Kidnapped King John and forced him to sign the
Magna Carta
Background: 
● They wanted the king to admit that he was not
English Barons  
above the law
● Barons thought the king needed to recognize
people's rights

● Magna Carta
○ protect the barons rights
○ Kings not above the law
○ Kings cannot tax without Great Councils
U.S. Constitution:  permission
A Comparison  ● U.S. Constitution
○ Protects citizens rights
○ No one above the law
○ Presidents cannot tax without congress's
permission

Connections!  ● English Barons mad at king John over taxation

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

  ● Americans were mad at king george III for the

same reason
● The founding fathers of America used the
Magna Carta as a justification to rebel from
England
● King John; Magna Carta
● King George III; U.S. Constitution

The English Bill of Rights 

● Originally called “Declaration of Rights”

Background:  ● Parliament passed it into law in 1689
Declaration and  ● Became Foundational for English Common Law
Date  (England’s Constitution)
○ Eventually foundational to America

● The “English Bill Of Rights” came about because

Background:  of the Glorious Revolution which overthrew
Glorious Revolution  King James II and replaced him with the
monarch pair of William and Mary

● Before William and Mary were King and Queen

they were forced to agree to the “English Bill of
Background: 
Rights”
Parliament to 
● Parliament said that English citizens had
William & Mary 
certain civil and political rights that could not
be taken away

● Jury trials
● No excessive bail
● Right to arms
Background: 
● Free elections to parliament
Governmental 
● Free speech in parliament
Freedoms 
● Free to petition the king
● No taxation without parliament's approval
● No cruel or unusual punishment

● Constitutional ideas similar to the english bill of

rights:
○ Individual rights protected
U.S. Constitution:  ○ Congress controls taxation
A Comparison  ○ Congress raises and supports an army
○ No quartering of troops
○ Sets up rules for regular elections
○ Right to jury trial

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

○ Limits powers of the president

Mayflower Compact 

● Mayflower Compact
Background:  ○ November 11, 1620
Location and Date  ○ Provincetown Harbor
○ Cape Cod, Massachusetts

● In 1620 pilgrims tried to go from England to

Virginia but instead landed in Massachusetts
Background:  (New England)
The Pilgrims   ● The 41 pilgrims (men) signed the “Mayflower
Compact” to stop the arguing
○ This was their first form of government

● Was a constitution for the colony (now

Massachusetts)
Background: 
● Agreed to set up just and equal laws
Cooperation as 
● Set up a way to add or change laws
Government 
● Had cooperation of all to follow the ideas of the
document

● Each a supreme law

● Both set up civil governments
U.S. Constitution:  ● Both based on “just and equal laws”
A Comparison  ● Each provided ways to amend itself
● Both became the basis for other colonial
charters / state constitutions

● Three government artifacts have a direct

influence on the U.S. Constitution
In Conclusion  ○ The Magna Carta
○ English Bill of Rights
○ Mayflower Compact
 

 
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