Foundations of America

Based on the concept of natural rights

Natural Rights

• What are some examples of the rights enjoyed by American citizens?

• Are some rights more fundamental or basic than others?

• How are these rights guaranteed and protected in the American political system?

Before American Government

• Kings and Queens ruled over countries and whatever they said was the law

• This was known as a monarchy

• People had no individual rights until brave men spoke up and encouraged democratic revolutions and to throw off the king and queen

Locke and Rousseau

John Locke

• The man responsible for the natural rights concept

• Locke assumed that humans carried into modern society rights that the gov’t couldn’t take away such as life liberty and property.

• Rejected Divine Right: Rulers chosen by God to lead

Jean Jacque Rousseau

• He combined individual rights with the need for social cooperation

• He formed his own philosophy in his “Social Contract”

• It said that people give up some rights for social order as a state

Along comes America

• The concept of Natural Rights was the basis for the American and French Revolution

• It appeared in several important documents including the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and most importantly the Constitution

The Constitution

• Written in 1787 and ratified in 1789 after several previous failed governments

• Contains 27 Amendments and 7 Articles• The first 10 Amendments are known as

the Bill of Rights

The Constitution

• It is today the law of the land and considered a flexible and living document

• Why?

• It can be changed to fit America’s current needs and applied to current situations

The Constitution

• A hard battle was fought to write the Constitution

• Without this battle, the Constitution would not be as important as it is today in modern America

Communist GermanBorder guard Defection

He realized he was not protecting his country, but imprisoning its people. Three days after the border was closed, he leapt to freedom. On August 15, 1961, at Bernauer Strasse, becomes the most famous border guard to defect.

• Rights are those freedoms that cannot be taken away.

 • Rule of Law is a state of order

in which events conform to the law

 Questions to consider:

• What is happening in this picture?• How is the government responding

to the rights of individuals?

Enlightenment Political Philosophies

•Enlightenment Video