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It was the first formal document stating that a King had to follow the laws of the land and it guaranteed the rights of individuals against the wishes of the King.
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The Mayflower Compact was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States.
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*The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing.
* restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation,
* forced billeting of soldiers
*imprisonment without cause
*the use of martial law -
designed to tighten the government's control over trade between England, its colonies, and the rest of the world.
*Imported goods from non-English America had to arrive in England and her colonies in English ships.
*England's American colonies could only export their goods in English ships.
*Imported goods from Europe had to arrive in England and their colonies either in English ships or in ships that came directly from the producing country -
dealt with constitutional matters and laid out certain basic civil rights.
*no cruel and unusual punishment
*free election of congress
*no taxes without congress' concent
*right to a fair trial -
*forbade colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.
*closed down colonial expantion westword
*it effected all 13 colonies -
Colonial Merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses.
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The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used.
*restricted colonists -
the colonists did not want to have to pay taxes on the British tea.
* a protest against taxes
*viewed it as taxation tyranncy -
*British army sent to confenscate
*Seize arm cache
*British retreted -
they met to denounce the intolerable acts in America.
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The Second Continental Congress reacted to decteration of rights
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In fact, independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams believed would be “the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration. It wasn't signed until August 2, 1776.
