Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals Chapter 2 Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals
Bellringer Write the following statements on your Bellringer sheet: All Americans are equal Some Americans have more rights than others Americans have all the freedom they deserve All Americans have the same opportunity to succeed in life Wealthy people have a more powerful voice in American democracy than do others
Bellringer Next to each slide write the letter that best represents your views on each statement: A. strongly disagree B. mildly disagree C. mildly agree D. strongly agree
Preview Each question in the Bellringer relates to one of the US’ founding ideals: Equality Liberty Democracy Opportunity Rights
Chapter 2 Essential Question What are America’s founding ideals and why are they important? Read the Introduction to Chapter 1 What’s the difference between an idea and an ideal?
Equality Follow Up No 2 humans are exactly alike They are different when they’re born They have different skills They are different physically, emotionally, mentally They are born into different social status So how can they be equal?
Equality Follow Up As members of a society, all persons should have their equality guaranteed in 2 ways: Equality before the law There are no different laws for different classes Equality of rights Each person is entitled to his/her life with every other person Each person is equally entitled to their inalienable rights
Equality Follow Up What is the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of condition/outcome? Is equality of condition an achievable goal? If so, how could it be achieved? The Founders feared that, if government can level people’s “stuff”, the government has the power to take away people’s equal rights to life, liberty, and property
Rights Follow Up Where do “unalienable” rights come from? We can forfeit our rights but there’s nothing that can be done by government/person to increase/decrease our inalienable rights. Inalienable Rights = Natural Rights
Democracy Follow Up Democracy = system of government that gets its power from the consent of the governed The US is not a democracy, it’s a Constitutional republic We elect representatives The Constitution is the law of the US