Foundations of Government
• Greece (400’s BC):
• Democracy: rule by the people
• Rome (509-50 BC)
• Republic: Citizens govern, through elected
representatives
• Focus on the common good
• Makes civic virtue a necessity
• Putting the common good (your country) before your
own interests
• This is done through moral education
Foundations of Government (2)
• Kings and Queens rule (with nobles and lords)
• 1215
• Nobles resist king’s rule and write Magna Carta
• Limited king’s power
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Can’t tax without approval
Rights of “free” men must be protected
Right to a trial by peers
Nobles can rebel if king breaks this agreement
• This is called limited government (limiting the king’s power)
• 1300’s
• Advisors to the king turn into Legislature (Parliament)
• Law making body
Foundations of Government (3)
• 1628
• King Charles (England) forced to sign Petition of Rights
• Which he breaks…thus causing his removal from power
• 1688
• William and Mary (Charles’s daughter) sign English Bill of Rights
• Citizens have certain rights no one can take away
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Right to a fair trial
No imprisonment without due process of law
No loss of property without due process of law
No cruel punishment
No standing army in peace time without Parliament’s consent
No taxes without Parliament’s consent
Right to bear arms
Right to petition the king
Freedom of Speech in Parliament
• Parliament now has more POWER!
• Life
• Liberty
• Property
John Locke
• 1632-1704
• Philosopher
• What would happen if you were in a “state of
nature?”
(i.e. no rules)
…so we give up some of our freedoms in exchange for
protection and security….to consent to the law
• Social Contract:
• Agreement people make among themselves to create a
government to rule and protect their natural rights.
Philosophers
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Baron de Montesquieu
• 1712-1778
• “Man is born free, yet everywhere
he is found in chains.”
• People have the right to decide
how they are governed
(legislature)
• 1689-1755
• Power of the government should be
divided into branches
• Thus, none is too powerful to
threaten people’s rights
• “separation of powers”
• “checks and balances”
Voltaire
1649-1778
People should have free religion and free trade
Early American Government
• 1607 Jamestown
• Virginia Company: Appoint governor and council
• House of Burgesses: elect leaders to represent them and make own laws
• 1620 Mayflower Compact
• Written agreement to choose leaders, work together, and obey laws
• “direct democracy” – town meetings used to discuss problems and make
decisions
• American Revolution… and the
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!!
• What is the purpose of government?
• How should government get the authority or
right to make laws telling people what they can
and cannot do?
• What should the people have the right to do if
government doesn’t serve the purpose for which
it was created? Why do they have this right?
• 1) Protect natural rights (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness)
• 2) Government gets consent from the people:
• Explicit Consent
• Agree to a contract that establishes the society
whose members then establish the government
and choose its officers
• Join a society already established
• Implicit consent
• Accepting laws and services of a government and
nation of your birth
• How do Americans give consent to government:
• Ratified Constitution in 1787
• Born here = implied consent
• You could choose to leave, but if you choose to stay, you accept
laws and enjoy benefits
• Immigrants = explicit consent
• 3) If people have the right to give power to
government, they have the right to take it away if it is
not serving the purposes it was established for
• i.e. the right to a revolution!
• Limited government
• Established and respected restraints on powers
• Unlimited government
• Government free to use power as chooses
• Americans choose…limited (based on history)
• Constitutional government:
• Powers of a person or group controlling the government are
limited by a set of laws and customs called a constitution
• Set of customs, traditions, laws, and rules that
set for the basic way a government is
organized and operated
• Written or unwritten
• Good or bad
• Not all constitutions are part of a constitutional government…need that
higher law
• What is the purposes of government?
• How is the government organize?
• How is the government supposed to go about doing its
business?
• Who is considered to be a citizen?
• Are the citizens supposed to have any power or control
over their government? If so, how is it to be exercised?
• What rights and responsibilities, if any, are the citizens
supposed to have?