Origins and Foundations of Government Chapter 3

Ideas that Shaped our Government  Religious – Judeo-Christian religious traditions – create a just (fair) society based on respect for the law.  Natural Law – a universal set of moral principles that can be applied to any culture or system of justice.  Greeks- direct democracy or decision making by all citizens  Romans – representative democracy – decision making by officials elected by the people.

English Roots  Magna Carta – defined the rights and duties of English nobles and set limits on the monarch’s power.  Magna Carta also established Rule of Law – which made it clear that all people, including the monarch had to follow the law.

Petition of Right  Petition sent by the English Parliament to King Charles I complaining of a series of breaches of law.  It sought recognition of four principles: no taxation without the consent of Parliament, no imprisonment without cause, no quartering of soldiers on subjects, and no martial law in peacetime.  To continue receiving subsidies for his policies, Charles was compelled to accept the petition, but he later ignored its principles.

English Bill of Rights  Reaffirmed the principle of individual rights – giving citizens the right to bear arms, and right to petition the king, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.  It also established the power of Parliament (England’s law making branch) over the monarchy.

Enlightenment Thinkers  Intellectual movement in Europe that stressed the value of reason, not only for studying the natural world, but also for improving government.

John Locke  English philosopher – believed people had certain unalienable rights (rights that cannot be taken away) – right to life, liberty and property.  He believed in a social contract between the people and the government. The people’s rights were protected in exchange being law abiding.

Baron Montesquieu  French philosopher believed governments should be organized in a way that preventing one person from having all the power. This argument led him to propose a 3 branch system of government with separate functions for the executive, legislative and judicial branches.  Each branch would act to limit the power of the other branches. (Separation of Powers)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau  Swiss-born philosopher – he believed that for a government formed by a social contract to have legitimacy, it must be based on popular sovereignty (will of the people).  If government fails to carry out the will of the people, the contract is broken and the government should be dissolved.

Everyday life experiences influenced government  Mayflower Compact – was the first written framework for self-government in the colonies, and it established a civil body authorized to make laws and appoint officers.  Direct democracy

Virginia Declaration of Rights  A document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men including the right to rebel against an inadequate government.

Iroquois Confederacy  May have been influenced by Benjamin Franklin.  The Iroquois' detailed constitution -- called the Great Law of Peace -- guaranteed freedom of religion and expression and other rights later embraced in the U.S. Constitution.

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense  Wrote a pamphlet that presented colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided.

Declaration of Independence  Thomas Jefferson wrote this document.  First two sentences of the document say – governments are formed to protect people’s unalienable rights. Second That if a government fails to protect people’s rights, the people should abolish it and form a new one.

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom  Written by Thomas Jefferson – created a separation between religion and government that became the basis for the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights.

Articles of Confederation  Agreement between the 13 original states that established the U.S. as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution.  It failed because the articles didn’t allow Congress to raise taxes or regulate trade.

Northwest Ordinance  Established the precedent by which the federal government would be sovereign and expand westward across North America by adding new states versus expanding existing states.

Constitutional Convention  Delegates met to fix the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. They ended up voting to abandon the Articles of Confederation and create a national government with more power.

Great Compromise  Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed a compromise calling for a bicameral legislature – two houses with the Senate having equal representation and the House of Representatives – states would have representation based on their population.

Virginia Plan  Virginia Plan – called for a two house legislature. Representation should be based on the population of each state.  The bigger states liked this because they would have more influence over the states with smaller population.

New Jersey Plan  A one house legislature in which all states had equal representation.

Compromise on Slavery and Commerce  Three-Fifths Compromise – count each slave as 3/5ths of a free person for the purposes of representation and taxation.

Federalists/Anti-Federalists  Federalists – made up of wealthy merchants and professionals who wanted a strong federal government and supported the ratification (approval) of the Constitution.  Anti-Federalists – did not support the ratification of the Constitution. They wanted a bill of rights to protect individual rights of citizens.

Federalist Papers  James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote a series of 85 essays in support of the Constitution.

Federalist Paper No. 10  Federalist No. 10 – Madison argued that because a large government would represent so many people, it would be less likely to fall under the sway of factions or groups that want power for selfish reasons.

Federalist Paper No. 51  Madison explained that a system of checks and balances were designed to keep a large national government from turning into a tyranny (ruler with unlimited power).

Bill of Rights  Shortly after the ratification of the Constitution, the First Congress ratified the Bill of Right (first 10 Amendments) to protect the individual liberties of people.