The Rule of Law

Chapter Four - The Colonies Develop There are four main points to Chapter Four: I.Financial Implications– How did money impact the development of the colonies? II.Development of Slave Industry– Why did the slave industry develop differently in the colonies? III.Growth of Cities– What was the impact of urban growth in the colonies? IV.Immigration– How did the migration of the various European people in the colonies impact the American culture?

Chapter Five - The beginnings of an American Identity There are four main points to Chapter Five: I.The Enlightenment – The impact that John Locke and an enlightened thinking had on the colonial leaders. II.The Great Awakening – A shift in the way the colonial people understood the role of the church? III.An American Identity – Colonist now understood themselves as Americans? IV.French and Indian War – The war that began the road to the Revolution?

 The French and Indian War had just ended  The dynamics of the colonies were dramatically changing.  The British make an attempt to maintain control over the colonies.  The colonists are going to react  This is what Chapter six is about!  The transition of being complacent English citizens.  To the United Colonies who seek to break away from the British control and to determine their own fate!

 The British victory in the French and Indian War led to great expansion of British territorial claims in the New World.  However, the cost of the war brought resentment towards the colonists from the English leaders who believed that the colonies needed a major reorganization and that the central authority should be in London.  The war had an equally profound but very different effect on the American colonists.  The colonists had learned to unite together. Before the war, the thirteen colonies had no common ground and coexisted in mutual distrust. But now they realized that by working together they could be a power.

COLONIAL FRUSTRATION LEADS TO RESISTANCE  As the middle class wealth declined, social frustration increased.  After the French and Indian War ended there was an increase of people, yet not enough work.  In many colonial cities, frustrated people began acting out in violent ways to protest the British control.  A perfect example of the mob mentality confronting the British authority can be seen in the situation surrounding the Boston massacre.  Here though is where we can see where one of the greatest foundational qualities of our nation. The Rule of Law!  These local leaders who eventually become our country’s founding fathers realize the dilemma that is building.  What will our society be based on, social conflict and lawlessness of the Rule of Law?  Will it be vigilante justice or the truth of what is right and wring that stands behind the Law?  Again, lets look to the Boston Massacre as an example.

WHY IS THE RULE OF LAW SIGNIFICANT  The foundation of our country is defined by moral justice.  The Law of what is right must rule our country.  As Americans we have fought for the rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We cannot allow the rich, the powerful, the mobs to control our country.  That is what defines the United States of America as the greatest country that humanity has ever witnessed.  Although we have our differences and problems. Although we fight in wars and let our emotions get the better of us into inciting violence at times.  At the end of the day, the Rule of Law defines who we are as a people, as a community of law abiding citizens and as the greatest example of human democracy!

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. If you can read this quietly raise your hand! Then I will know who is paying attention.