Ladies and gentlemen, today you studied how the English nation came to be. The land we today call England was invaded over several centuries by the original Celts and later Angles and Saxon people both coming from northern Germany. These Angles and Saxons brought with them their language, culture and traditions. England itself gets its name from the "land of the Angles" Angle-land=England. Danish Vikings also traveled there and mixed with the Anglo-Saxons.
However in 1066 a French Viking or Norman from the region of Normandy in norther France led his armies across the English channel and eventually conquered the Anglo-Saxons. He eventually took over all of England and brought the French language and culture and feudal system with him. This strange mix of peoples are the where the English nation begins
later in 1215, the nobles angry at King John from wasting their money force the King to sign the Magna Carta the foundation document of English democracy. This document reduced the power of the King and provided the English people with rights and freedoms. Later the English would also create the beginnings of the legislative representation by creating the Parliament, this also weakened the power of the Kings of England. In France however the Capetian Kings created another organizations the Estates-General, while the French kings pretended that the Estates General were free, the fact was that the clergy and the nobility held almost all the power and the French people had no guarantee of rights, like the people of England did.
compare and contrast the rights and freedoms in the magana carta to the US bill of rights
http://www.billofrights.com/MagnaCarta.htm
you have to read both and tell me what they have in common and what is different.
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