On this day in 1689, Parliament of England adopts the ‘English Bill of Rights’ which establishes the rights of parliament, places limits on the crown, establishes the right of petition and just treatment of people by courts and includes the right of no taxation without representation
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>The English Civil War (1642–1651) was fought between the King and an oligarchic but elected Parliament during which the notion of long-term political parties took form with the New Model Army Grandee debating a new constitution in the Putney Debates of 1647.
>Objecting to the policies of King James II of England, a group of English Parliamentarians invited the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange) to overthrow the King.
>William’s successful invasion with a Dutch fleet and army led to James fleeing to France. In December 1688, peers of the realm appointed William as provisional governor. It was widely acknowledged that such action was constitutional, if the monarch were incapacitated, and they summoned an assembly of many members of parliament. This assembly called for an English Convention Parliament to be elected, which convened on 22 January 1689.
>The proposal to draw up a statement of rights and liberties was first made on 29 January 1689 in the House of Commons, with members arguing that the House “cannot answer it to the nation or Prince of Orange till we declare what are the rights invaded” and that William “cannot take it ill if we make conditions to secure ourselves for the future” in order to “do justice to those who sent us hither”.
>On 13 February the clerk of the House of Lords read the Declaration of Right, and the Marquess of Halifax, in the name of all the estates of the realm, asked William and Mary to accept the throne. William replied for his wife and himself: “We thankfully accept what you have offered us”. They then went in procession to the great gate at Whitehall. The Garter King at Arms proclaimed them King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland.
>In the 18th century, some of the colonists who objected to British rule in the thirteen British North American colonies that would become the first United States argued that their [traditional rights as Englishmen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_Englishmen) were being violated. The colonists wanted and expected the rights that they (or their forebears) had previously enjoyed in England: a local, representative government, with regards to judicial matters (some colonists were being sent back to England for trials) and particularly with regards to taxation.Belief in these rights subsequently became a widely accepted justification for the American Revolution.
The Provisions of the Act included:
* The power of suspending the laws and dispensing with laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal
* levying taxes without grant of Parliament is illegal
* it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal
* keeping a standing army in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law
* Protestants may have the right to bear arms and as allowed by law
* election of members of Parliament ought to be free
* the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned
* excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
* promises of fines and forfeitures before conviction are illegal
* Parliaments ought to be held frequently
In my books (biased as an early modern anorak) probably trumps Magna Carta or any other major constitutional event in terms of creating the political system we know today.
The era in general has cast a very long shadow in British history in wider social, cultural, and political terms as well, it created our fundamentally bipolar political culture.