Alabama Social Studies SS24.6.12a
The Standard
- SS24.6.12
- Explain how forms of governments established prior to the founding of the United States influenced the formation of the new nation’s system of government.
Describe how the Magna Carta, Petition of Right, and English Bill of Rights contributed to the development of limited government.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how three English documents limited a ruler’s power. They connect rules about taxes, imprisonment, and lawmaking to the idea that rulers must follow laws.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name a limit from each document: Magna Carta bound the king to law, the Petition of Right required Parliament’s approval for taxes, and the English Bill of Rights barred monarchs from suspending laws. They can explain how each limit stopped a ruler from acting alone.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think Magna Carta ended the monarchy or gave equal rights to everyone. They may also mix up the Petition of Right’s tax limits with the English Bill of Rights’ limit on suspending laws.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Name one limit from each document. Then explain how those three limits kept rulers from acting alone.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs three document cards and six ruler-action slips; have them sort each action under the document that limits it.
Ask, “Why is Parliament’s approval of a tax different from a king announcing one alone?” Have students write two sentences.
Read clues about an unapproved tax, a suspended law, and a king ignoring the law; teams hold up the matching document card.
Show a sample pay stub with federal tax withheld; compare Congress’s tax power in Article I, Section 8 with Parliament’s role in the Petition of Right.
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Printable SS24.6.12a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.6.13a
Explain how a written constitution aids in establishing limited government and the rule of law.
- SS24.8.7e
Summarize the significance of the issuing of the Magna Carta in limiting royal power and establishing the rule of law.
- SS24.8.15
Analyze the development of parliamentary and constitutional government in England.
- SS24.8.15b
Summarize how major provisions in the Petition of Right and the English Bill of Rights influenced early forms of constitutional government.
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