Feudalism Pyramid Divine Right

 The necessity of government  Natural Law  God Given Rights  Individual Rights  Social Contract  Where people give up some of their rights in order to have certain protections from the government  If a government violates this contract the people have the right to revolution  If the people violate this contract, the government may put down the revolution

 War is man’s natural state  “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”  Need for a strong ruler  Why?

 Believed in having powers separated into branches  Judicial  Legislative  Executive

Monarchy Power vested in hereditary kings and queens Totalitarianism Economic system in which government controls the economy Oligarchy Form of government in which the right to participate is conditioned on the possession of wealth, social status, military position, or achievement Democracy System of government that gives power to the people, whether directly or through elected representatives

 Def.: The system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution.

 American Revolution ( )  Declaration of Independence (1776)  Confederation Period ( )  Constitution (1787-Present)

 Proposition of the Articles of Confederation  13 articles  Proposed to better coordinate the war effort

 3 major controversies  1. How do they get state representatives  How was the war to be financed  Resolve western land claims

 Each state( regardless of size) gets 1 vote  Taxes are raised based on amount of settled land in each state  Jurisdiction of western lands turned over to Congress

 Articles passed

 Article I- agrees on the name of the country  Article II- Each individual state will retain its political sovereignty and independence except the powers expressly given to the central government  Article IX- Expressly delineated powers given to the central government  Congress has sole authority over foreign affairs  Only congress has the power to declare war  Boundary disputes between individual states  Government will operate the postal service  Authority to deal with Indian affairs outside state boundaries

 Adopted so late in the war that it had nothing to do until the end of the war  No enforcement power over the states  Questioned purpose after independence  Northwest Ordinance of 1787

 Could enter into treaty but couldn’t uphold the stipulations  Unicameral-single ruling body  Average delegate served on 6 committees at once  Executive committee- 6 people made chief executives  Every bill had to be unanimously passed

 The US couldn’t raise the revenue to pay off war debts  Unable to pay off British for the loyalist claims  Spain retaliated in 1784 by closing off New Orleans to American ships  1786-US defaulted on all foreign loans  Americans thought congress was weak and inept