Researched
Constitutions & Checks on Power
Montesquieu (1748) and the US Constitution (1787) separate legislative, executive and judicial power: power is limited.
Open in the interactive tree →Magna Carta (1215) and the English Bill of Rights (1689) bound rulers to law; the US Constitution of 1787 and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) realized popular sovereignty in large territorial states through representation. In Germany, the Frankfurt constitution of 1849, Weimar 1919 and the Basic Law of 1949 followed.
Prerequisites
- Democracy in Athens508 BC
- Magna Carta1215Magna Carta was the first landmark in binding rulers to law
- Enlightenment & Encyclopedia1715-1789