Question:

 

In his article, Michael Grossberg asserted that rights are a dialogue between citizens and government. What do you think he meant by that? Do the materials that we have read so far this semester suggest that this was always the case? What documents seem to support Grossberg’s contention? Which seem to call it into question? Why?

 

Thesis:

Grossberg’s statement that rights were a dialogue between citizens and government rested on the idea that to be effective rights had to balance the interests of the government (in protecting the people) and citizens (in controlling the government). This suggests that for rights to be effective, there has to be a process in place to determine rights and balance the interests of government and citizen. The materials we have read this semester show that it took a while for this process to evolve, [POINT 1] in the earliest documents there is no reliable enforcement mechanism for rights, [POINT 2] it is not until the Declaration of Independence and after that means were established to enforce rights and make the dialogue Grossberg describes possible.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rounded Rectangle: Point 1: In early documents, there are rights, but there is either no enforcement process or the enforcement process is inadequate or incomplete.  

 

 

 

 


  1. First example:

 

Oval: The Charter of Liberties, written in 1100, was the first attempt in England to recognize some rights, specifically relating to taxation. But while those rights checked the king, there was no enforcement mechanism to make them meaningful, if the king decided to ignore the promises in the document, those “guaranteed” rights disappeared.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


  1. Second example:

Oval: The Magna Charta, which recognized a series of rights for different people in England, demonstrates another aspect of the problems of enforcement in early documents. There, section 61 provided an enforcement mechanism if the king failed to respect rights – a committee of barons could protest and if that failed, the barons could revolt. But section 61 was removed from subsequent versions of the Magna Charta, rendering its protections null.