U2 Notes #1 Political Philosophers/Independence

SSCG1 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the political philosophies that

shaped the development of United States constitutional government.

a. Analyze key ideas of limited government and the rule of law as seen in the

Magna Carta, the Petition of Rights, and the English Bill of Rights.

b. Analyze the writings of Hobbes (Leviathan), Locke (Second Treatise on

Government), and Montesquieu (The Spirit of Laws) as they affect our concept of

government.

SSCG2 The student will analyze the natural rights philosophy and the nature of

government expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

a. Compare and contrast the Declaration of Independence and the Social Contract

Theory.

b. Evaluate the Declaration of Independence as a persuasive argument

U2 Introduction Constitutional Convention

Political Philosophers and Independence √

Constitution, Conventions, Structure, and

Ratification

The Constitution; Powers and Amendments

The English Experience

•We adopted the

English Model and

Ideas of

Government

•Limited

Government

•Representative

Government

•Social Contract

Limited Government

• Magna Carta

• King John’s excessive

taxes

• Forced to sign

document that listed

what King could not do.

• “No Tax without

Consent”

Other Limitations By British

•Petition of Rights; More

things King can not do

“imprison without reason”

•English Bill of Rights;

King not divine, Rules

with the consent of the

People.

•More government is

limited more rights

people can enjoy

Representative Government

•King had to get

Nobles consent to

tax

•Becomes the

Parliament

•Overtime People

play a role in who

gets into

Parliament

Social Contract Theory

•Belief that government a creation of the people

•People agree to give the government power to

make rules they must obey.

Thomas Hobbes

•Wrote the “Leviathan”

•In State of Nature Life was

“Nasty, Brutish, and Short”

•People gave up all their

rights and created an

absolute government to rule

over them.

•Once created could not get

rid of this government.

John Locke

•Wrote 2nd Treatise on

Government

•Said people created

governments to protect

their rights

•Rights were life, liberty,

and property

•If government failed to

protect these rights,

people had a right to get

rid of the government.

Montesquieu

•Said that best form of

government to protect

the people’s rights was

through separation of

power.

•If power separated, no

one part could become

tyrannical.

Thomas Jefferson

•Put these ideas together in

Declaration of

Independence.

•Said unalienable Rights

of Life, Liberty, and

Pursuit of happiness.

•Said King was denying us

these rights.

•Said we had a right to

replace their government.

Declaration of Independence

•We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with

certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,

Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

•That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted

among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of

the governed

•That whenever any Form of Government becomes

destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to

alter or to abolish it,

•and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on

such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as

to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and

Happiness