Growth of Individual Rights

Document/Person
Year(s) Rights/Ideas Developed
(Place)
- 282 Laws
Around
Code of Hammurabi - “An eye for an eye”
1792 - Harsh punishments
- 10 Commandments
Around
Moses - Moral Law
1500s B.C. - Biblical books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
- Direct Democracy
- Council of Elders proposed laws (Sparta)
508 B.C. Greeks - Representative Democracies: Citizens elect reps to run gov’t
- Council of 500: 50 from each tribe serve the gov’t. Proposed laws for assembly
- Draco’s Law: Written code of law that’s harsh and severe
- Religious Republic
- Checks and Balances
- 3 Branches of Government: Judicial, Legislative, and Executive
Around
Romans - Veto
500 B.C. - Conflict of Orders  12 Tables
- Popular Assembly (Magistrates, Consuls, Praetors)
- Violence in gov’t (Graccus Brothers)
- Central gov’t more efficient
- Set up the exchequer to handle the kingdom’s finances
1100-1135 Henry I - Weaken feudal lords by having cases tried in the king’s court vs. in feudal courts
- Sent out traveling judges
- Allowed nobles to pay a fee instead of serving in the military
- Had a loyal army
- Exchequer kept track of gov’ts finances
1154-1189 Henry II - Traveling judges enforced the king’s laws
- 12 member jury
- Held trials
- Cornerstone of constitutional government
- No new/special tax without Great Council consent
1215 Magna Carta - Principle of just compensation
- No selling, refusing, or delaying of justice
- No imprisonment without specific cause
- No levying taxes without Parliament’s consent
Around - No declaring martial law
Petition of Right - No quartering soldiers in private homes during peacetime
1628
- No imprisonment of people without specific charges
- Must give the monarch absolute power or anarchy results
- People retain the right to protect their lives
Around
Thomas Hobbes - People first live individually then make social contracts
1690 - Two Treaties of Gov’t
- Covenant
- Protected people from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment
Around
Habeas Corpus - Anyone arrested could obtain an order to be brought before a judge within a certain
1679 period of time
Around Declaration of Right & - Parliament would choose the ruler, who as an official would be subject to
1689 the English Bill of Parliamentary laws
- Ruler can’t suspend any law
Rights -Ruler can’t impose any tax or maintain an army in peacetime without Parliament’s
consent
- Parliament has the right to meet frequently
- Monarch can’t interfere with elections of its members
- Members of Parliament can express themselves freely
 - Protected private citizens
- Citizens can petition gov’t for relief of injustice
- No one could be required to pay excessive bail or be subjected to cruel and unusual
punishment
- Fought against intolerance and injustice, especially religious prejudice
1734 Voltaire - Freedom of speech
- Perfect government
- Power divided equally among all three branches of government: Executive,
1748 Montesquieu Legislative, and Judicial
- Influenced limited monarchies
- Unalienable rights: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
- All men are created equal
- Right to equal opportunities and justice
Declaration of
1776 - All government power comes from people
Independence - No government can exist without consent of citizens because citizens create
government to protect individual rights
- People can destroy/change government if they are not protecting their rights
- Central government is in power
- One house congress where each state gets one vote
Articles of - Congress could declare war, make peace, conduct foreign trade, and settle disputes
1781-1789 between states
Confederation
- Laws required approval by 9 states
- Only state courts. No federal courts
- Federal system of government
- Congress can declare war, make treaties, coin money, raise armies, and regulate
trade
U.S. Constitution / Bill
1777-1791 - All power is shared
of Rights - 3 Branches of Government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
- Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition
- Right to trial by jury