1. What did the U.S. Government ideals stem from?

2. Former colony of England—took the basic notions of limited government, ordered government and representative government James Madison read the works of numerous philosophers and read numerous documents in preparation for the Constitutional Convention Those ideas were the basis of our Constitution and therefor our government

3. Key Contributions: People are generally good People have natural rights to life, liberty and property Current Application of Contributions for American Government: Allow citizens as much freedom as possible to do as they please because they are generally good and make good decisions Citizens cannot be deprived of life, liberty or property without proper notice from government (due process)

4. Key Contributions: People are generally bad People need the structure of government to maintain society Current Application of Contributions for American Government: Need laws with specific punishments to keep people in line Jails/Police/Etc.

5. Key Contributions: Power to rule belonged to the people Governments should receive their power from the people People have the right to rise up against their government and carry out needed change Current Application of Contributions for American Government: Representative Democracy-vote for our elected officials who are given the responsibility of making decisions in our best interest Majority Rule vs Minority Rights

6. Key Contributions: Limited the absolute power of government Current Application of Contributions for American Government: There are limits on the power of our government Example-Protections against search and seizure

7. Key Contributions: People should rule themselves and not be ruled by a king Current Application of Contributions for American Government: We have an elected chief of state (president), not a leader that rules because of his family heritage

8. Key Contributions: Failed due to lack of unity between the individual states Showed the need for a strong central government Current Application of Contributions for American Government: Our national/federal government has more power than the state governments and is considered the supreme law of the land (U.S. Constitution)