Dr. Beienberg explores how the English Bill of Rights shaped American rights philosophy more indirectly than commonly believed, revealing fundamentally different understandings between British and American views on rights protection.
• Americans and British took different lessons from the Glorious Revolution – British focused on parliamentary supremacy while Americans emphasized fundamental rights
• English Bill of Rights primarily restricted the monarch rather than all government institutions
• British view assumes Parliament will protect rights; American system is skeptical of all government power
• Similar language appears in both documents (cruel and unusual punishment, quartering soldiers, bearing arms)
• Key difference: English speech protections only applied within Parliament, while American version was universal
• American founders were uniquely concerned that even elected majorities could violate individual rights
• British system views elections themselves as the fundamental protection of liberty
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