Author: James Caldwell

The Miranda Warning Advertisement The Constitution reserves many rights for those suspected of crime. One of the fears of the Framers was that the government could act however it wished by simply saying an individual was a suspected criminal. Many of the rights in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, such as habeas corpus,…

The Mayflower Compact stories of survival, of relations with American Indians, of the first Thanksgiving, and of religious freedom found, are the stuff of American legend. One of the cornerstones of the Pilgrim ethos is the Mayflower Compact. The Pilgrims were a small group of people bound by common religious beliefs. They did not believe…

The Massachusetts Government Act When Massachusetts was first chartered, a council of inhabitants was formed, the 28 members of which were to be chosen annually by the people of the colony. This bit of democratic representation was unique among the many colonies, and it was a right the people took seriously and enjoyed, given the…

The Magna Carta Advertisement Of all the documents that make up the ancestry of the Constitution, one of the oldest is the Magna Carta (also known as the Magna Charta or the Great Charter). It was created in 1215 in England. It was an agreement between King John and the nobility of the day. The…

Madison’s Introduction of the Bill of Rights James Madison, is considered by many to be the father of the Constitution, and not without good reason. What is perhaps less well known is his role in the Bill of Rights, too. During the Convention, the delegates were mostly set against the inclusion of a bill of…

Richard Henry Lee’s Independence Resolution In the spring and early summer of 1776, war with Britain looked more and more likely. There had already been battles, but many of the leaders of the colonies felt that reconciliation with the Crown was still possible. But things deteriorated rapidly. King George sent Hessian troops to America, a…

Jefferson’s Wall of Separation Letter Thomas Jefferson was a man of deep religious conviction — his conviction was that religion was a very personal matter, one which the government had no business getting involved in. He was vilified by his political opponents for his role in the passage of the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious…