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Declaration of Rights

a declaration drawn up by Parliament, and presented to William III. and Mary on their acceptance of the Crown of England, 1689. In it Parliament claimed the right of Englishmen to keep arms for their own defense; that the election of members of Parliament ought to be free; that no excessive fines or unusual punishments should be inflicted; that money should not be raised without the consent of Parliament; that a standing army must not be raised or kept up in times of peace without the consent of Parliament, etc. These articles were afterward embodied in the Bill of Rights.