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Will
You Sign This Petition?
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LEVEL
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Beginning
- Advanced |
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SUBJECT
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U.S.
History, World History |
Introduction
When people
are asked to recite the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment,
they often forget the right of petition. Yet this right could arguably
be credited with providing the foundation for all other First Amendment
rights.
The story begins
in 1215 at a place called Runnymede in England, where the English
barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, the first document
to put limits on the king’s power. While the document itself did
not establish the right to petition, the very act of challenging
the king — whose belief in his divine right to rule was absolute
— demonstrated the human desire to rectify wrongs by voicing grievances.
More than 500 years later, American colonists raised their voices
against an unjust king and against Parliament when King George
III and Britain’s ruling body ignored their petitions. The colonists
told the world why they were rebelling against the monarch in the
Declaration of Independence: “In every stage of these oppressions,
we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated
petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”
In this lesson, students will research the backgrounds of three
English documents whose influence is evident in the First Amendment
and in American society today. Students will prepare timelines and
make presentations to their classmates.
Key
Concepts
- The precedent
for the right to petition for a redress of grievances originated
in three English documents: the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right
and the Bill of Rights (Declaration of Rights).
- Individuals, citizens’ groups and corporations may request remedy
or complain to and about their government without fear of punishment.
- Securing liberty and individual rights requires enforceable
legal limits on all government power.
First
Principles
Go to this curriculum’s First
Principles. The First Principles document was developed to explain
in practical, everyday terms just what the First Amendment means.
Read the explanations of the principles listed below. They have
special relevance to the activities in this lesson.
- The First Amendment affirms the freedom of the individual.
- Free expression is the foundation — the cornerstone — of democracy.
First
Moments
Share this scene from January 2001 with students.
“Will you sign this petition?” asks a pair of high school seniors.
They approach commuters and tourists at a Washington, D.C., Metro
stop.
As a group pauses to hear more, one of the students — who is taking
a U.S. Government class — explains: “People who live here are serving
in their country’s military, but their government doesn’t give them
representation in forming policies.”
Her partner
adds, “The citizens of this jurisdiction are paying over $2 billion
in federal taxes every year, but they don’t have a voting representative
in Congress. These citizens weren’t allowed to vote for president
until 1964.”
Nearby, another pair of students distributes pamphlets telling
where to purchase D.C. license plates bearing the slogan “Taxation
Without Representation.” They urge people to be true patriots.
“Won’t you support these taxpayers?” the first student asks. “This
is taxation without representation. Will you sign this petition
to give D.C.
the vote?”
Ask students
if they think the petition should be signed. What else do they need
to know before they can make an informed decision?
Remind students
of the Stamp Act that the British Parliament imposed on American
colonists for the purpose of “defending, protecting and securing
the colonies.” Resistance to this measure spread throughout the
13 colonies: Sons of Liberty formed, stamps were destroyed and in
October 1765 a congress was held in New York, the first intercolonial
meeting for an American initiative.
Distribute D.C.
Vote: Pro and Con. Discuss the information provided. What other
arguments for or against the proposal that D.C. residents receive
full voting representation in Congress can students add?
See which petition students would
sign. Download Which
Petition Would You Sign? for use in the classroom.
Procedure
- Define the terms “petition,” “redress” and “grievances.” When
students ask for signatures on a petition, when a lobbyist voices
the wishes of a client and when Native Americans seek fishing
rights, all are seeking change. They are telling government officials
of their dissatisfaction without fear of reprisal or imprisonment
because the First Amendment guarantees that citizens may petition
the government for a redress of grievances. Ask students for examples
of citizens using the right to petition for a redress of grievances.
- After students
have discussed the importance of petition to today’s American
citizens, divide the class into three groups. Assign each group
a different document to research: Magna Carta (1215), Petition
of Right (1628) and the Bill of Rights, England (1689). Each group
is to create a multiple-tier timeline that contains reflections
of life in the assigned period (which could include references
to art, literature, technology and industry); significant personalities;
and important social, political and economic circumstances that
produced the document.
Give each group its document Group
Assignment Sheet.
- All members of each group should participate in oral presentation
of the timelines to the class.
- Give each student a copy
of the Petition
Timeline. Ask each group to share what influences their group’s
document had on the Declaration of Independence, First Amendment
and Bill of Rights. Be sure to summarize parallels to be made
between the three English documents and the American First Amendment’s
protection of rights, including the right to petition for a redress
of grievances. These may include:
- In 1215 the Magna Carta stated that its rights “protected
all the free men of our kingdom.” In 1776, the Declaration
of Independence stated, “All men are created equal.” In both
cases, it took centuries for the rights to apply to all the
people.
- The
evolution from an all-powerful government to a government
existing to protect the people’s rights took centuries to
accomplish.
In 1215 King John swore he would break every law he had
just signed and went on a rampage of revenge for a year
until he died. According to his epitaph, he was “a knight
without truth, a king without justice, a Christian without
faith.”
In 1649 when Parliament found King Charles I guilty of treason,
they sentenced him to death as a “tyrant, traitor, murderer,
and public enemy to the good people of the nation.”
At the conclusion of the listing of grievances in the Declaration
of Independence, the 13 colonies agreed: “Our repeated Petitions
have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose
character is thus marked by every act which may define a
Tyrant, is unfit to be ruler of a free people.”
- The
Petition of Right in 1628 prohibited compulsory loans or taxes
imposed by the king “without the consent by act of Parliament.”
This “was an early formulation of the principle of ‘taxation
without representation,’ which would be invoked resoundingly
a century and a half later by the American colonies to protest
the Stamp Act,” according to Ira Glasser, author of Visions
of Liberty: The Bill of Rights for All Americans.
Enrichment
- Research one of the Supreme Court cases that relate to the right
of petition (see Petition
Timeline.) In the student’s written review of the case, ask
that the influence of earlier documents and cases in the Court’s
ruling be included.
-
Download the 1997
State of the First Amendment report and go to Chapter 4:
Freedom of Assembly and Petition. Discuss the variety of civic
endeavors — “boycotts, protests, marches, and demonstrations;
lobbying; freedom of association; access to information” — that
are indicated as examples of freedom of assembly and petition.
Note how petition for redress of grievances is closely associated
with speech, press and assembly. Ask students to read their
local newspaper and online newspapers for examples of today’s
citizens seeking redress of grievances.
- Lead students in brainstorming a variety of methods that people
can use to petition the government for redress of grievances (e.g.,
testifying at a public hearing, writing letters to public officials,
circulating formal petitions). Follow up by inviting a former
elected official from the city council, the county commission
or other local body to meet with the class. (A former official
may find it easier to be candid with the class than an official
who currently holds office.) If no such person is readily available,
a staff person who actually screens calls and letters might be.
The class and the official should discuss how elected officials
decide whose petitions or requests get their attention first.
Focus on how ordinary citizens can be most effective in getting
attention and being taken seriously by elected officials.
Resources
On
the Web
Magna
Carta
The debt American law and constitutional government
owe to the Magna Carta is acknowledged. View the Magna Carta on
permanent loan from the Perot Foundation.
Magna
Carta and Its American Legacy
An excellent online source, concisely addressing the
influence of a group of barons gathered at Runnymede on American
liberties.
Magna
Carta, the exemplification of 1215, online at the Digital
British Library.
Medieval
Sourcebook: Medieval Legal History
Online legal documents to explore the origins of English
common law.
The
Petition of Right (1628)
Online text of the document, “exhibited to his Majesty
by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, concerning divers Rights and Liberties of
the Subjects.”
The
Declaration of Right (February, 1689) (Extracts)
Presented to Prince William and Princess Mary, indicting
James II, declaring the rights of the citizens. After they signed
the document, William & Mary of Orange were declared King and
Queen Regnant of England.
The
Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: English Bill of Rights
1689
An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject
and Settling the Succession of the Crown.
The
Avalon Project at the Yale Law School
Online text of documents that were “roots of the Constitution.”
These include the Magna Carta; Mayflower Compact, Nov. 11, 1620;
The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England,
May 19, 1643; and several state constitutions.
Constitution
of the Confederate States of America,
March 11, 1861
Treasures
of Congress
This particular page presents the “gag rule” imposed by Congress
on anti-slavery petitioners.
Timeline
of Medieval Britain
Timeline
of Reformation and Restoration Period
DC
Vote
Latest information on getting the vote for D.C. residents.
In
Print
The
Bill of Rights: Evolution of Personal Liberties
This boxed set includes 46 facsimiles of documents, historical
background, 10 lesson plans that trace the history of the Bill
of Rights. National Archives and Records Administration. 1998,
#11154. Click
to order.
The
Constitution
This boxed set inclues 34 documents and a teacher’s guide for
a study of the making of the Constitution, the beginning of the
government and the evolution of a constitutional issue. National
Archives and Records Administration. 1985, #11141. Click
to order.
Glasser,
Ira. Visions of Liberty: The Bill of Rights For All Americans.
New York: Arcade Publishing. 1991. History and application of
the Bill of Rights. Photographs by Bob Adelman.
Monk,
Linda. The Bill of Rights: A User’s Guide. The Close Up
Foundation. 2000. Birth of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution
and stories of those who keep it a living Bill of Rights. Includes
a chapter on the Fourteenth Amendment. Winner of the 1992 Gavel
Award of the American Bar Association.
National
Standards
World History: Study the continuum of the right of petition
for a redress of grievances from the Magna Carta to the English
and American Bill of Rights to contemporary society.
World History, Era 5 — Intensified Hemispheric Interactions 1000-1500
CE: Understands the redefinition of European society and culture
from 1000 to 1300 CE.
Historical Understanding: Understands and knows how to analyze
chronological relationships and patterns.
U.S. History: Understands how political, religious, and social
institutions emerged in the English colonies.
Benchmarks
World History, Era 5 — Intensified Hemispheric
Interactions 1000-1500 CE, Grades 7-8: Understands political events
that shaped the development of European governments (e.g., how European
monarchies expanded their power at the expense of feudal lords,
and the growth and limitations of representative institutions in
these monarchies; how the political relationship between the Roman
Catholic Church and secular states changed from the Early Middle
Ages to the High Middle Ages; the conflict that led to the Battle
of Hastings; the political changes William initiated after his victory
and the long-term cultural and social changes in England following
the Norman conquest.)
World History, Era 5 — Intensified Hemispheric Interactions 1000-1500
CE, Grades 9-12: Understands the development of English government
and its legal and political system (e.g., the Magna Carta and its
tenets of the rule of law and constitutional liberties; the structural
differences between, powers of, and participants in the representative
governmental bodies of the English Parliament and French Estates-General).
Historical
Understanding, Grades 6-8: Knows how to construct and interpret
multiple-tier timelines (e.g., timelines that contain important
social, economic and political developments in colonial history;
timelines that compare developments in the English, French and Spanish
colonies in North America).
Historical Understanding, Grades 9-12: Understands historical continuity
and change related to a particular development or theme (e.g., the
Industrial Revolution, the evolution of democracy in the U.S.).
U.S. History, Grades 7-8: Understands the concepts that contributed
to the "rights of Englishmen" (e.g., as found in the Magna Carta,
English Common law, the English Bill of Rights [1689]).
U.S. History, Grades 7-8: Understands the impact of the English
Civil War and the Glorious Revolution on the colonies.
Civics, Grades 6-8: Understands the difference between the "rule
of law" and the "rule of men" (e.g., government decisions and actions
made according to established laws vs. arbitrary actions or decrees).
Civics, Grades 6-8: Understands the possible consequences of the
absence of a rule of law (e.g., anarchy, arbitrary and capricious
rule, absence of predictability, disregard for established and fair
procedures).
Civics, Grades 9-12: Knows alternative ideas about the sources
of law (e.g., custom, Supreme Being, sovereigns, legislatures) and
different varieties of law (e.g., divine law, natural law, common
law, statute law, international law).
Interdisciplinary
Civics: Understands the sources, purposes, and functions of law
and the importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual
rights and the common good.
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