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Life, Liberty And Property
"Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. Scanned image of the Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence, written in June 1776, including all the changes made later by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other members of the committee, and by Congress. The phrase gives three examples of the unalienable rights which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their Creator, and which governments are created to protect. Like the other principles in the Declaration of Independence, this phrase is not legally binding, but has been widely referenced and seen as an inspiration for the basis of government. Origin and phrasing The United States Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and then edited by the Committee of Five, which consisted of Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. It was then further ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought. His ''Discourse on Inequality'', which argues that private property is the source of inequality, and ''The Social Contract'', which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order, are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. Rousseau's sentimental novel ''Julie, or the New Heloise'' (1761) was important to the development of preromanticism and romanticism in fiction. His ''Emile, or On Education'' (1762) is an educational treatise on the place of the individual in society. Rousseau's autobiographical writings—the posthumously published ''Confessions (Rousseau), Confessions'' (completed in 17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas De Littleton
Sir Thomas de Littleton or de Lyttleton Order of the Bath, KB Serjeant-at-law, SL(c. 1407–23 August 1481) was an English judge, undersheriff, Lord of Tixall Gatehouse, Tixall Manor, and legal writer from the Lyttelton family. He was also made a Order of the Bath, Knight of the Bath by Edward IV of England, King Edward IV. Early life Thomas de Littleton was the eldest son of Elizabeth Littleton, sole daughter and heiress of Thomas de Littleton, Lord of Frankley, Worcestershire, and Thomas Westcote or Heuster, esquire, chief prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas (England), Court of Common Pleas. The date of Littleton's birth is uncertain; a MS. pedigree gives 1422, but it was probably earlier than this. If, as is generally accepted, he was born at Frankley Manor, it could not have been before 1407, in which year Littleton's grandfather recovered the manor from a distant branch of the family. Elizabeth Littleton and Thomas Westcote had four sons. Thomas, the eldest son a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Institutes Of The Lawes Of England
The ''Institutes of the Lawes of England'' are a series of legal treatises written by Sir Edward Coke. They were first published, in stages, between 1628 and 1644. Widely recognized as a foundational document of the common law, they have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, including several landmark cases. For example, in ''Roe v. Wade'' (1973), Coke's ''Institutes'' are cited as evidence that under old English common law, an abortion performed before quickening was not an indictable offence. In the much earlier case of ''United States v. E. C. Knight Co.'' (1895), Coke's ''Institutes'' are quoted at some length for their definition of monopoly, monopolies. Sir Edward Coke’s Institutes also had a significant influence on the development of legal principles in the American colonies. For instance, the Institutes were highly regarded by early American legal scholars and practitioners, including Thomas Jefferson, who referenced Coke’s work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean eras. Born into an upper-class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the Bar on 20 April 1578. As a barrister, he took part in several notable cases, including ''Slade's Case'', before earning enough political favour to be elected to Parliament, where he served first as Solicitor General for England and Wales, Solicitor General and then as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. Following a promotion to Attorney General for England and Wales, Attorney General he led the prosecution in several notable cases, including those against Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, Walter Raleigh, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Gun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independence Hall Assembly Room
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a dependent territory or colony. The commemoration of the independence day of a country or nation celebrates when a country is free from all forms of colonialism; free to build a country or nation without any interference from other nations. Definition Whether the attainment of independence is different from revolution has long been contested, and has often been debated over the question of violence as legitimate means to achieving sovereignty. In general, revolutions aim only to redistribute power with or without an element of emancipation, such as in democratization ''within'' a state, which as such may remain unaltered. For example, the Mexican Revolution (1910) chiefly refers to a multi-factional conflict that eventually led to a new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifth Virginia Convention
The Fifth Virginia Convention was a meeting of the Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot legislature of Colony of Virginia, Virginia held in Williamsburg, Virginia, Williamsburg from May 6 to July 5, 1776. This Convention declared Virginia an independent sovereign state, state and produced its first constitution and the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Background and composition The previous Fourth Virginia Convention had taken place in Williamsburg, Virginia, Williamsburg, in December 1775. In Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress appointed George Washington commander of the Continental Army troops that then surrounded Boston, and Virginia patriots defeated an advancing British Army during the American Revolutionary War, British force at the Battle of Great Bridge southeast of Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk. The newly elected delegates to the Fifth Virginia Convention re-elected Edmund Pendleton as its president on his return from Philadelphia as presiding officer of the F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Mason
George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and his ''Objections to this Constitution of Government'' (1787) opposing ratification, have exercised a significant influence on American political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for the United States Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed a father. Mason was born in 1725 in present-day Fairfax County, Virginia. His father drowned when a storm capsized his boat while crossing the Potomac River in 1735 when Mason was about nine years old. His mother managed the family estates until he came of age. In 1750, Mason married, built Gunston Hall, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia Declaration Of Rights
The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government. It influenced a number of later documents, including the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the United States Bill of Rights (1789). Drafting and adoption The Declaration was adopted unanimously by the Fifth Virginia Convention at Williamsburg, Virginia on June 12, 1776, as a separate document from the Constitution of Virginia which was later adopted on June 29, 1776. In 1830, the Declaration of Rights was incorporated within the Virginia State Constitution as Article I, but even before that Virginia's Declaration of Rights stated that it was '"the basis and foundation of government" in Virginia. A slightly updated version may still be seen in Virginia's Constitution, making it legally in effect to this day. Ten articles were initially drafted by George Mason , 1776; three other articles were a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Declaration And Resolves Of The First Continental Congress
The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (also known as the Declaration of Colonial Rights, or the Declaration of Rights) was a statement adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 14, 1774, in response to the Intolerable Acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, British Parliament. The Declaration outlined colonial objections to the Intolerable Acts, listed a colonial bill of rights, and provided a detailed list of grievances. It was similar to the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, passed by the Stamp Act Congress a decade earlier. The Declaration concluded with an outline of Congress's plans: to enter into a boycott of British trade (the Continental Association) until their grievances were redressed, to publish addresses to the people of Great Britain and British America, and to send a petition to the King. Background In the wake of the Boston Tea Party, the British government instated the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Pamphlet
The ''Boston Pamphlet'' was a 1772 pamphlet published in Boston in the American Revolution. Written by members of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, the pamphlet outlined the rights of British American colonists and argued recent British policies were in violation of those rights. Although called the "Boston Pamphlet" by contemporaries, it was officially known as ''The Votes and Proceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of The Town of Boston, In Town Meeting assembled, According to Law''. The ''Boston Pamphlet'' had three sections of original material: "A State of the Rights of the Colonists", a "List of Infringements and Violation of Rights", and a "Letter of Correspondence" addressed to the other towns of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Traditionally, authorship of the three sections was attributed to Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, and Benjamin Church, respectively, but historian Richard Brown argued that solitary authorship of any section was unlikely, and that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limited Government
In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theory and the Political Vision of Judith N. Shklar' (University of Chicago Press, 1996), pp. 64–65. History Magna Carta and the U.S. Constitution also represent important milestones in the limiting of governmental power. The earliest use of the term ''limited government'' dates back to King James VI and I in the late 16th century. Scholar Steven Skultety argues that although Aristotle never developed principles and tactics of constitutionalism, Aristotle's political philosophy in some ways anticipated the idea of limited government, primarily as a tool for limiting civic distrust and enhancing stability. John Locke, a liberal philosopher, was an important theorist of liberal government. Writing in his '' Two Treatises of Government'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
