Short, simple summary with the full text of the 8th amendment of the Bill of Rights stating limitations on imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or any cruel and unusual punishments.

The Virginia Bill of Rights was the framework for the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights. Some of Mason's actual phrasing appear in the first ten amendments passed fifteen years later. He is credited for authoring the first American...

One of the historical events that led to the creation of the limited government of the United States, the Magna Carta was written in 1215 as a promise from King John of England to his demanding barons. It put English kings under the rule...