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Thomas Paine
A radical, Enlightened thinker who argued for greater representation for ordinary people and human rights. -
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Thomas Jefferson
Lived during the beginning of the Enlightenment era and helped America gain it's freedom by writing the Declaration of Independence. -
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William Wilberforce
Campaigned against slavery. He primarily helped outlaw slavery in Great Britain, but had an influence on the thinking of many Americans at the time. -
Declaration of Independence
Although the main purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to formaly announce the thirteen American Colonies as independent and no longer part of the British Empire, it also had another effect on America. The new, free nation was made up of people who truely believed in equal rights and freedom from a tyranny. Because of this, the nation's leaders had the responsibility of protecting these people by giving them individual rights. -
United States Constitution
This Constitution consisted of Articles that outlined the basic order of the new federal government (ex. established the separation of powers by creating an executive, legislative, and judiciary branch). Without the ratifying of this document, the Anti-Federalists would have never compromised by proposing Amendments for individual rights. -
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were ratified to protect individual rights. The amendments that compromise the Bill of Rights protect many personal freedoms (ex. freedom of religion-1st amend.) and limit the power of the government so as to prevent it from becoming corrupt, dominating, or tyrannical. These additions to the Constitution were proposed by Anti-Federalists like Patrick Henry because they were afraid that their new government would become like Britain's. -
11th Amendment
Does not allow people to sue a citizen that lives in another state in Federal Courts. -
12th Amendment
This amendment gives the procedure to how the president and vice president are elected. This replaced the original way of electing which are mentioned in article three, section 1, clause 3 of the Constitution. One thing that this amendment says is that if the electoral college fails to decide who to elect, the congress gets to decide.
