Scan the text and answer the questions.

 

THE ENGLISH POLITICAL HERITAGE

 

During the 1600s people from many regions, such as Spain, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Norway, and West Africa, settled in North America. Most colonists, however, came from England. It was the English who established and governed the original thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast.

The English colonists brought with them ideas about government that had been developing in England for centuries. By the 1600s English government offered its citizens political liberties, such as trial by jury, that were largely unknown elsewhere. At the heart of the English system were two principles of government. These principles – limited government and representative government – greatly influenced the development of the United States.

By the time the first colonists reached North America, the idea that government was not all-powerful had become an accepted part of the English system. The idea first appeared in the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, that King John signed in 1215. The Magna Carta established the principle of limited government, in which the power of the monarch, or government, was limited, not absolute. This document provided for protection against unjust punishment and the loss of life, liberty, and property except according to law. Under the Magna Carta, the king agreed that certain taxes could not be levied without popular consent.

The rights in the Magna Carta originally applied only to the nobility. During the next few centuries, however, other groups won political liberties, primarily through agreements between English monarchs and the nobility and merchants.

 

heritage – наследство, зд. наследие;

trial by jury – судебное разбирательство с участием присяжных;

to levy (taxes) – взимать, собирать налоги;

consent – согласие;

the nobility – дворянство, знать;

merchant – купец.

1. Did people from many regions settle in North America during the 1600s?

2. Most colonists came from England, didn`t they?

3. What political principles were brought by the colonists to America?

4. Who signed the Magna Carta?

5. When did King John sing the Magna Carta?

6. What provisions did the Magna Carta contain?

7. Who enjoyed the rights granted by the Magna Carta?

8. Did the rights in the Magna Carta originally apply to the nobility or to the merchants?

 

UNIT 6

 

THE US SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT