Monthly Archives: April 2014
332.WHAT WAS THE FEUDAL SYSTEM?
Today Europe is divided into many countries. But from about the ninth to the fifteenth centuries, it was like a single country. It was divided into great estates, and the people who lived on them didn’t think of themselves as Frenchmen, Germans, or Englishmen. Instead, each man owed loyalty to his landlord, and the landlord owed it to a still greater landlord, and the greatest of all owed it to the king.
The local lords who ruled over vast estates did not wish to have the trouble and expense of administering the whole of their estates.
331.WHAT IS “WALL STREET?”
We are always hearing about how what happens on Wall Street somehow affects the lives of People all over the world. What is actually meant by “Wall Street,” and how can it influence the lives of millions of people?
Wall Street is literally a street in the lower part of New York City. On it or near it are concentrated the chief financial institutions of the United States.
330.WHAT IS THE MAGNA CARTA?
Today people everywhere are deeply concerned with their rights, their freedom, and laws that protect them against tyranny and oppression. The Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, was the first step toward constitutional liberty for English-speaking people everywhere in the world. It was signed by King John of England in 1215, and it laid the foundations for a new kind of government.
At the time of King John, there was much oppression, the courts were corrupt, and justice was not practiced. So the barons who ruled under the King decided to try to get back some of their old rights and privileges, which they believed were more fair to themselves and the people. On June 15, 1215, they and some churchmen of England gathered an army together and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta.
