Bill of Rights Origins in the United States
Origins of the Bill of Rights: the English Legal Tradition in America
When English immigrants came to the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, most assumed that they would have the same protections against governmental abuses of power that they had in England. The most important of these were the right to trial by jury and the right of habeas corpus, which prevented the government from jailing people arbitrarily. Other personal liberties brought from England to America included the right of accused persons to have legal assistance at trials, and a ban on excessive fines and bail. These rights came from several centuries of English legal tradition, recorded in documents such as the Magna Carta of 1215, the Petition of Right of 1628, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689, from which the American Bill of Rights took its name. The assumption of basic legal rights of citizens also came out of the English common law, a body of English court-made law that evolved from the 12th century.
English settlers in America included many of these protections in colonial laws. The English Americans decided to codify (write into law) some parts of the common law and to make additions suited to the colonial society. The 1632 charter for the Maryland colony, for example, declared that all people who were born or who moved there were entitled to ‘all Privileges, Franchises and Liberties’ of a native Englishman. By 1639 the Maryland General Assembly had passed an act for ‘the liberties of the people.’
Residents of the Massachusetts Bay Colony created the Body of Liberties in 1641, an important forerunner of the American Bill of Rights. The Body of Liberties granted limited religious freedom, assured landowners of the equal protection of the laws, the right to petition the government for change, and the use of the writ of habeas corpus. It also banned punishments considered ‘inhumane, Barbarous or cruel’ and recognized the right of an accused person to have legal assistance under some circumstances. The Body of Liberties also required the presence of several witnesses to a crime before a person could be sentenced to death. It also granted citizens the right to travel and settle abroad, an important freedom often denied in England.
Some colonies created religious protections stronger than those in Massachusetts, even though religious freedom was not part of the English legal tradition. Religious intolerance in the Massachusetts Bay Colony spurred some people, including clergyman Roger Williams, to flee to other areas. Williams went to Rhode Island in 1636, where he started a new colony based on religious freedom and political equality. Eventually these freedoms were incorporated into the Rhode Island Charter of 1663. This charter banned government repression of religious groups and guaranteed individuals the right to their own beliefs. The strong religious protections in Rhode Island marked out a significant new limit on government power. (1)
In this Section: Bill of Rights, Rights Protected, First Amendment, Second Amendment, Third Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment, Seventh Amendment, Eighth Amendment, Ninth Amendment, Tenth Amendment,
Rights Protected Summary, Bill of Rights Origins (including Bill of Rights: Rebellion and Agitation for New Rights), Bill of Rights and the Constitution and Bill of Rights Interpretation.