The Americas
As they conquered much of the world during the so-called Age of
Discovery, Europeans began to consider what rights to give to
Indigenous peoples—and also people at home. Spaniards in the
Caribbean agreed on a set of rights for Indigenous peoples in 1512,
although those rights were often ignored in reality. Indigenous peoples
were forced into enslavement to labor for the Spanish, for example.
In 1689, the English Parliament passed the Bill of Rights. Based on the
idea of natural rights that were given to humans by God, it protected
citizens from, among other things, “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The English law applied in North America, but some Americans called
for a greater say in deciding their own future. They complained that
their English rulers raised their taxes from them but gave them no say
in how those taxes were spent. Such complaints eventually led to the
American Revolution (1775–1783). In 1776, Americans declared
independence as the United States of America. At the end of the
revolution, American politicians drew up rights for their own citizens.
American Patriots fought the
Revolution on the grounds that
the British government denied
their basic rights.
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