Social Contract ✔✔An agreement between people and government in which citizens consent to
being governed so long as the government protects their
... [Show More] natural rights.
Natural Rights ✔✔the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life,
liberty, and property
State of Nature ✔✔A theory on how people might have lived before societies came into existence.
is a condition in which all of us live individually and solitarily, prior to the existence of society.
We are physically and mentally capable of achieving our own survival.
Montesquieu (1689-1755) ✔✔contribution in The Spirit of the Laws (1748) regards the structure
of political institutions. He argues for a separation of powers: legislative, executive, and judicial.
Each will serve as a check on the power of the other, limiting the harm each might do. separates
power to offset the power of different social interests: ordinary people, the aristocracy, and the
monarch.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): ✔✔One of the first individuals to contribute to the idea of the social
contract was a pre-Enlightenment English philosopher. Hobbes argues that society is not
something natural and immutable, but rather it is something created by us. We do this to resolve
problems we collectively face, to make our lives better. State of Nature: it's "a war of all against
all." Basically, the state of nature is a pretty nasty place where lives are perpetually insecure.
John Locke (1632-1704) ✔✔we are autonomous individuals, capable of using reason, and are
driven to advance our personal interests. Our primary interest is survival, which we want to make
secure and comfortable. To achieve this security and comfort, we acquire property. Two Treatises
of Government, disagrees, saying the state of nature is a relatively decent place. All its inhabitants
are rational people, mindful of the basic law of nature to not harm another, and people will get
along okay. But our relationship in the state of nature is "inconvenient," implying an incentive for
us to devise a better, more convenient arrangement.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) ✔✔A French man who believed that humans are naturally
good and free and can rely on their instincts. He also advocated a democracy because he believed
the government should exist to protect common good. Like other Enlightenment thinkers, he was
passionately committed to individual freedom, but he attacked rationalism and civilization as
destroying, rather than liberating, the individual. He also called for a rigid division of gender roles,
believing women should be subordinate in social life. His ideals greatly influenced the early
romantic movement, which rebelled against the culture of the Enlightenment in the late eighteenth
century. Rousseau was both one of the most influential voices of the Enlightenment and, in his
rejection of rationalism and social discourse, a harbinger of reaction against Enlightenment ideas.
Constitution is influenced by the Enlightenment ✔✔(Separation of powers) embodies
Montesquieu's principles by separating the legislative, executive, and judicial power, placing each
into the hands of different political actors.
Bill of Rights influenced by Enlightenment ✔✔· The First Amendment gives us a definitive
declaration for the protection of natural rights. Protections of individual conscience as well as
protections for democratic participation (John Lock ideology).
· The Second Amendment, which also embodies Lockean ideas, permits the possession of arms
for the "security of a free State."14 In this Amendment, the right to rebellion is established.
· Due process says all citizens are subject to fair and equitable treatment.
· The Fourth - Eighth Amendments serve to both limit the power government has over us and lay
out procedures which must be followed when dealing with us.
· The Ninth Amendment makes it clear that the list of rights protected in the first eight
Amendments is not exhaustive and that we, the people, can assert additional natural rights when
we see fit (at least in theory.)
· The Tenth Amendment makes clear that powers not specifically granted to the federal
government are retained by the states and the people (these last two are Lockean ideals)
Declaration of Independence influenced by Enlightenment ✔✔Locke maintains that society is a
rational but voluntary expression. Government, which serves to regulate the terms of the social
contact on which society is created, serves to protect our natural rights and serve as a democratic
conduit for our interests. Most important of our natural rights are liberty and property.
National Government under the Articles of Confederation ✔✔unicameral congress, or one
chamber known as the Confederation Congress. no executive or judicial branch. Functions in order
to make sure that the national government did not have too much power and that the power of the
states remained protected. had the authority to exchange ambassadors and make treaties with
foreign governments and Indian tribes, declare war, coin currency and borrow money, and settle
disputes between states. Each state legislature appointed delegates to the Congress; these men
could be recalled at any time. Regardless of its size or the number of delegates it chose to send,
each state would have only one vote. Delegates could serve for no more than three consecutive
years, lest a class of elite professional politicians develop. The nation would have no independent
chief executive or judiciary. Nine votes were required before the central government could act,
and the Articles of Confederation could be changed only by unanimous approval of all 13 states.
Powers under the Articles of Confederation (national government): ✔✔The Power to Borrow and
Coin Money
The Power to Declare War
The Power to Make Treaties and Alliances with Other Nations
The Power to Regulate Trade with the Native Americans
The Power to Settle Disputes among Other States
The Power to Borrow and Coin Money (National Government) ✔✔The national government could
make the currency of the United States, known as Continental currency. It could also borrow
money from other nations to cover the country's debts that remained from fighting during the
American Revolution. This power to borrow and coin money was limited, as the national
government had to rely on the states for enough money to cover debts and back any loans taken
from other countries.
The Power to Declare War (National Government) ✔✔The national government could declare war
as it deemed appropriate with other nations. It could also appoint military officials. However, this
power was limited. The national government could declare war, but there was no national military
to draw soldiers from. The soldiers came from the individual states.
The Power to Make Treaties and Alliances with Other Nations (National Government) ✔✔The
national government could enter into treaties or agreements with other nations as it deemed
appropriate. Under this power, the national government could also appoint foreign ambassadors.
The Power to Regulate Trade with the Native Americans (National Government): ✔✔The national
government was given power to negotiate and regulate trade with the Native Americans. Native
Americans were not considered citizens of the United States and were treated as foreign nations
by the both the national and state governments.
The Power to Settle Disputes among Other States (National Government) ✔✔the national
government had the authority to settle any and all boundary disputes that arose between the states,
which were bound to happen in this newly formed country.
Problems with the Articles of Confederation (Power to Raise an Army or Navy): ✔✔Although the
central government could declare war and agree to peace, it had to depend upon the states to
provide soldiers. If state governors chose not to honor the national government's request, the
country would lack an adequate defense. The lack of a national army meant that the national
government could not draft any soldiers into the military.
Problems with the Articles of Confederation (Taxation) ✔✔Articles of Confederation gave the
national government no power to impose and collect taxes. To avoid any perception of "taxation
without representation," the Articles of Confederation allowed only state governments to levy
taxes. To pay for its expenses, the national government had to request money from the states,
which were required to provide funds in proportion to the value of the land within their borders.
The states, however, were often negligent in this duty, and the national government was
underfunded as a result. The national government could not impose taxes on citizens. It could only
request money from the states.
Problems with the Articles of Confederation (Regulating Trade): ✔✔The national government did
not possess the power to regulate trade among the different states. This lack of authority not only
affected the national government, but the states as well. The national economy suffered as foreign
countries began to form trade agreements with individual states, agreements for which the national
government could not regulate or tax.
Problems with the articles of confederation National Government: ✔✔· Each state had only one
vote in Congress regardless of its size.
· The national government could not impose taxes on citizens. It could only request money from
the states.
· The national government could not regulate foreign trade or interstate commerce.
· The national government could not raise an army. It had to request the states to send men.
· The Articles could not be changed without a unanimous vote to do so.
· There was no national judicial system.
New Jersey Plan (small state plan) ✔✔A plan that called for a one-house national legislature; each
state would receive one vote. Each state would have one vote. Thus, smaller states would have the
same power in the national legislature as larger states.
· Unicameral legislature (one chamber)
· Representation: State based (each state equally represented)
· Role of National Government: provides defense but does not override state authority
Virginia Plan (large state plan) ✔✔The number of a state's representatives in each chamber was to
be based on the state's population. In each state, representatives in the lower chamber would be
elected by popular vote. These representatives would then select their state's representatives in the
upper chamber from among candidates proposed by the state's legislature. Once a representative's
term in the legislature had ended, the representative could not be reelected until an unspecified
amount of time had passed.
· Legislature: bicameral (two separate chambers)
· Representation: population based (higher the population = more representation)
· Role of the National Government: can legislate for states and veto state law
Compromises at the Constitutional Convention (representation) ✔✔Congress would be a
bicameral legislature and would consist of two chambers: The Senate and the House of
Representatives. Each state, regardless of size, would have two senators, making for equal
representation as in the New Jersey Plan. Representation in the House would be based on
population. Senators were to be appointed by state legislatures, a variation on the Virginia Plan.
Members of the House of Representatives would be popularly elected by the voters in each state.
Elected members of the House would be limited to two years in office before having to seek
reelection, and those appointed to the Senate by each state's political elite would serve a term of
six years. Congress had the power to tax, maintain an army and a navy, and regulate trade and
commerce. It could also coin and borrow money, grant patents and copyrights, declare war, and
establish laws regulating naturalization and bankruptcy. [Show Less]