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The Bill of Rights and the English Bill of Rights 1689

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Please help me with the following questions

1.Briefly describe the reasons for these documents being drafted.
2.Describe in detail the similarities and differences between these two documents.
3. In light of the recent national security legislation passed by Congress, i.e. the Patriot Act, do you believe our civil liberties have been compromised? Explain the reasons.

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Solution Summary

The bill of rights and the English Bill of Rights 1689 are discussed. The recent national security legislation as it passed is given.

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I wish I knew how to be brief.
These, of course, are my opinions and mine alone. You may do what you will with them.

English and American Bills of Rights

Briefly describe the reasons for these documents being drafted.
Describe in detail the similarities and differences between these two documents.
In light of the recent national security legislation passed by Congress, i.e. the Patriot Act, do you believe our civil liberties have been compromised? Explain the reasons.

The English Bill of Rights was quite different from the much later American version. In England, the invasion of William of Orange against James, who was the rightful king in all respects but one (he was Roman Catholic, and, even worse, pro-Irish), needed an extra justification. Bringing in William, who did not even speak English and whose sole purpose for taking England was to have a country larger than the Netherlands to fight France, was highly irregular. William, however, was Protestant and, in general, supported the merchant class in intense competition with the French. (Remember, he was William III to the English, William II to the Scots; James was both James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland).

The Protestant nobility wanted freedom of action in Britain. The only thing between oligarchy and the balance of powers had been the monarchy, which they clipped with this document. It was pure self interest in the English case, but quite different in the American case. The British BoR established oligarchy (the rule of the elite, both noble and monied) over the courts, taxation and parliamentary procedure. Protestants were to be permitted weapons and there was to be no interference with parliamentary elections and, most certainly, Protestant property. Catholics, a bit later, were barred from existing in England and the BoR did not apply to them. Furthermore, the Bill was also a claim that James had "abdicated" the throne.

Now, the US version was quite different. It was a compromise between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist factions in the US at the ...

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