Requirement for Consent

America's Great Charter; the Constitution is America's by-laws. Government has only that power for which the People have 1 consented to delegate to it. 2

The idea that taxes may not be levied unless the People consent to them dates back 800 years to another great charter, that 3 of the Magna Carta of 1215. King John, a disorganized ruler, had just suffered an expensive and humiliating defeat by 4 losing Normandy to the French. He desperately needed money and was pressing all in his kingdom with higher taxes. 5

“Magna Carta was the culmination of a protest against the arbitrary rule of King John, who was using governmental powers which had been established by the great builders of the English nation, William the Conqueror, Henry I, and Henry II, for selfish and tyrannical purposes. In general these abuses took the pattern of increasing customary feudal obligations and decreasing established feudal rights and privileges. The Barons were forced to pay higher taxes above the usual rate... The merchants of London were burdened with heavy taxes... In addition, John's administration was disorganized and inefficient, and he employed unscrupulous

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foreign adventurers as royal officers and as sheriffs and bailiffs in every county of the land.”

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[Perry, Richard L.; Cooper, John C., Sources of Our Liberties , 1-2 (William S. Hein & Co., Buffalo, New York,

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1991)]

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The requirement that taxes cannot be levied unless the people consent to them appears in Magna Carta at chapters 12 and 15 14. But Magna Carta itself was a result of not only abusive and unjust taxation, but also taxation that was in violation of the 16 Charter of Liberties of King Henry I. Henry I became king in 1100 A.D. when his brother, King William, was removed 17 from the throne because of “unjust exactions.” 18 Unfortunately it is the habit of government to exceed its lawful boundaries and by 1297 the administration of Edward I was 19 levying taxes in violation of Magna Carta. The abuses were serious. In August of 1297, while the barons were formally 20 presenting their grievances to the king, they were also arming and preparing for revolution. Revolution was avoided when 21 on November 5, 1297, King Edward signed Confirmatio Cartarum. 22

“The events leading up to Confirmatio Cartarum, like those which L.Ed. up to Magna Carta, show that the king's violation of established laws oppressed the community as a whole and caused the barons and the clergy to unite in demanding the observance of the law. As was also true of Magna Carta, this oppression often took

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the form of illegal and unreasonable taxation.

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“Confirmatio Cartarum has had two principal effects upon the development of the liberties of the citizen. First it established Parliament as a truly representative organ of government by providing in Section 6 that the taxes must be raised by the common assent of the realm. The imposition of direct taxes without the consent of the

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people's representatives in Parliament was now against the very letter of the law.”

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[Perry; Cooper, supra at 24-6]

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The principle that government must have the consent of the People before levying any tax showed up on the American 32 continent in 1618 with the Ordinances for Virginia. 33

“The governor should not be allowed to levy taxes on the colony without the consent of the assembly.”

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[Perry, Cooper, supra at 50.]

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The Petition of Right of 1628 was yet another attempt by the English people to compel the administration of Charles I to 36 obey the law. Again, one of the abuses was taxation without the consent of the governed. At Section X the document states, 37 “That no man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax or such-like charge, without common 38 consent by act of Parliament.” 39 The Charter of Massachusetts Bay of 1629 provided for taxation only when consented to by the assembly of freemen. So 40 did the Charter of Maryland of 1632. Other colonies declared that the colonists had all the rights of Englishmen and that 41 Magna Carta and all subsequent documents that secured those rights applied to the freemen of the colonies including the 42 Bill of Rights of 1689. 43 The Bill of Rights of 1689 was the culmination of a revolution that took place in England which overthrew James II. Again, 44 one of the major abuses of the absolute rule of James II was illegal and abusive taxation. The preamble and forth clause of 45 the 1689 Bill of Rights states, 46

“WHEREAS the late King James the Second, by the assistance of divers, evil counselors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did endeavor to subvert and extirpate the protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom... 4. By levying money for and to the use of the crown, by pretence of prerogative, for other time,

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and in other manner, than the same was granted by parliament.”

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Requirement for Consent

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Copyright Sovereignty Education and Defense Ministry, http://sedm.org Form 05.003, Rev. 7-23-2013

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