Chapter 6

The Magna Carta

www.britannia.com/history/magna2.html
See page 102 in The World Today.

The Magna Carta (which means “great paper” or “great charter” in Latin) became law in England in 1215. Although the king still wielded great power in the Middle Ages, the Magna Carta did recognize that even the king was bound by law. You can read the Magna Carta on the “Britannia” website.

The Iroquois League

www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CULAMRCA/IRLEAGUE.HTM
See page 102 in The World Today.

Before the year 1600, the Iroquois League (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy) was formed by five nations: the Cayuga, the Mohawk, the Seneca, the Oneida, and the Onondaga. Later, the Tuscarora people also joined, and the league later became known as the Six Nations. They lived in what is now the northeastern United States and southern Ontario and Quebec. This article by Richard Hooker explains the league’s history and importance, and how it was governed. You can click on a link to find out what was included in the Iroquois Constitution.

Canada in the Making: Constitutional History

www.canadiana.org/citm/themes/constitution1_e.html
See page 103 in The World Today.

Learn all about the history of Canada’s constitution, from the decision-making systems of Canada’s First Peoples, through New France, British rule, and Canadian independence to the constitution we have today. You can read the text of some historic constitutional documents, and even see copies of some of the originals.

Tommy Douglas

www.weyburnreview.com/tommydouglas/welcome.html
See page 104 in The World Today.

The Weyburn Review newspaper made this website about Tommy Douglas. (Weyburn, Saskatchewan, was Douglas’s hometown.) Tommy Douglas is famous for a lot of things: being the premier of Saskatchewan, leading the New Democratic Party, being the founder of medicare, and, more recently, being named the “Greatest Canadian” by the CBC. Some of the links on this web page do not work, but the ones that do give the story of his life and how people today remember him.