What are similarities between the English Bill of Rights and the U.S. Bill of Rights?

"Natural rights are those which appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791. The Bill of Rights were derived from the English Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers and the public felt that the constitution didn’t set up enough boundaries for the government, they felt that the government would assume too much power and take away the “Natural Rights” of the human. The Bill of Rights was set up to make sure the public felt safe and to make sure the government couldn’t abuse their power and turn it into a communist state or a dictatorship. America and our Founding Fathers based our Bill of Rights off the English Bill of Rights, so naturally there will be a lot of similarities between the two. Much like the Amendments in the English Bill of…show more content…
Also, the UK is a monarchy, meaning that one person serves for life but in America the president can only serve two terms of years. The Legislative bodies are very different as well; America has a Congress, with a Senate and a House of Representatives that are separate from the executive and judicial branch. Both the House and the Senate are elected bodies, and their powers are outlined in the Constitution. The British have a Parliament, with the upper House of Lords and the lower House of Commons. Members of the House of Commons are elected by their constituencies, and the leader of a dominant party in Commons is appointed by the queen to be prime minister. The House of Lords is an unelected body of people that can check the power of the Commons by reviewing and amending bills. Britain had no supreme court before 2009, the House of Lords acted as the final

One can note similarities and differences between the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence. The document, the English Bill of Rights, was ratified in the year 1689 by the English parliament. The document considers the English monarch and the parliament as partners, and they were granted equal powers. The right of the subjects to send their representatives to the parliament was recognized.

The King of England abandoned his right to suspend and execute the laws. The subjects were allowed to request the King for appropriate legislation. Punishment of petitioners was declared illegal. The document allows Protestants to possess arms for their defence. Freedom of speech and expression in the parliament was safeguarded. The members of the parliament could not be subjected to fines and other punishments for their statements in the parliament. The document suggests that the members of parliament needed to meet regularly to introduce new legislation and modify old ones (Lewis 343).

The American Declaration of Independence, like the English Bill of Rights, safeguarded the right of subjects to participate in the election process. It also protected freedom of speech in the legislature. Unlike England, America does not recognize the role of the King in the lawmaking process. The American Declaration of Independence acknowledged the right of citizens to request specific legislation. In this way, it is similar to the English Bill of Rights. At the same time, one can note the differences between the two documents. The Americans fought against the English, who had established their rule in America.

Consequently, the Americans introduced new principles in their document when compared with the English Bill of Rights. The document vehemently opposes the basic principles of the English colonial rule, which aimed to exploit the colonies. For example, the colonial administration had affected American traders. The document asserts the right of subjects to dismiss an authoritarian rule, which fails to enact appropriate legislation.

The English rule in America had affected the freedom of Americans. Consequently, they opposed the unilateral imposition of new taxes, declaration of wars on the Americans, and the stationing of the English army in the country. American leaders also questioned the decision of the King of England to dissolve legislatures in the country. The English decided not to implement free laws in America, and this affected the political and economic rights of Americans. The American Declaration of Independence has questioned the tyrannical rule of the English in the colonies (U.S National Archives and Record Administration 1).

Works Cited

Lewis, Gavin. WCIV. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

U.S. National Archives & Records Administration. “Declaration of Independence”. The Charters of Freedom. U.S. National Archives & Records Administration. 1776. Web.

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IvyPanda. "Similarities and Differences Between the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence." January 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/similarities-and-differences-between-the-english-bill-of-rights-and-the-american-declaration-of-independence/.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Similarities and Differences Between the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence." January 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/similarities-and-differences-between-the-english-bill-of-rights-and-the-american-declaration-of-independence/.

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IvyPanda. (2022) 'Similarities and Differences Between the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence'. 29 January.

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The tyranny of England was not the sole power that led to the rights and liberty declared in the Declaration of Independence. Instead, it was Britain’s own Bill of Rights which acted as a precursor to America’s document of freedom. Although there are a vast amount of similarities between the two documents, I will argue that they are different in stated grievances, remedies, views on sources of political power, models of governance, and of rights and government. The English Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, though filled with similarities in regards to their stated grievances, are also spotted with differences. The distinct grievances of the Declaration include the statement that King George attempted to suppress the colonial…show more content…
In regards to view points of the political source of power, the English Bill of Rights asserts that rulers receive their power from the hand of God. This is found as the Bill states that, “…it hath pleased Almighty God in his marvelous providence and merciful goodness to this nation to provide and preserve their said Majesties' royal persons most happily to reign over us upon the throne of their ancestors”. Furthermore, it states the following about God granting William of Orange Kingship: “…it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power”. In contrast, the Declaration’s view point on this is found in the following excerpt: “To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The Declaration concedes that God establishes government, but they ultimately get their power and authority from the citizens. These governments are also different regarding their models of governance. The Bill of Rights sets forth a constitutional monarchy in which the king holds power. However, the monarch’s power is kept in check by set rules and Parliament. However, the Declaration of Independence establishes the second Continental Congress which stands in charge of declaring war and trade. (Ben Franklin) This head of government is above a union of