American government is based upon English principles. Explain their evolution and how they led to America's separation from Britain.

The evolution of English government (and a parallel study of English History) shows a process by which political power became consolidated and wielded by one ruler.  This was actually a necessary phase for England to become a country and a nation.  Indeed, claiming the sanction of heaven through the political argument of the Divine Right of Kings served the executive powers of the king, or monarch, to justify his or her role in the Great Chain of Being.  By the time of Medaeval England, the notion of "Divine Right" had been seriously questioned, and as embodied in the Magna Carta, had been curtailed.  In effect, this document began the process of disseminating the absolute monarchy, and establishing a judicial and legislative branch of government separate from the executive.  By the time of Renaissance England, the notion that not only was the monarch not absolute, but was also not above the law reflected the shift in power towards the legislative, specifically through the institution of Parliament.  Democracy, where the people have say in the workings of government, became more prominent;  Parliament became supreme over the monarchy.  The notion that any "freeman" could have a vote and a political say reflected the trend towards individual freedom.  America inherited this evolving British concept of government, and contributed the notion that if you didn't like the way you were governed, you could, and had a moral obligation to change it.  The "parliaments" or legislative bodies of the colonies were sadly ignored and sidelined by the Parliament of London, and, by asserting the English notion of self-governance, broke away.  In his Declaration, Thomas Jefferson refers to "our English Brethren" and, as colonists claiming the rights of Englishmen, asserts the notion of the governed to alter or abolish the government should they see fit to do so.