Name: ______________________________
Mods: ______________________________
Due:
______________________________
American Government Unit 1: Roots of American Democracy
(Chapter 2 in the book, pages 30-63)
Ohio Content Statements Covered:
5. As the supreme law of the land, the U.S. Constitution incorporates basic principles that help define the government
of the United States as a federal republic including its structure, powers and relationship with the governed.
16. In the United States, people have rights that protect them from undue governmental interference. Rights carry
responsibilities that help define how people use their rights and that require respect for the rights of others.
Expectations for Learning:
Explain in context one of the basic principles which help define the government of the United States. (Emphasis on
Popular Sovereignty & Rule of Law)
Assessments
At the end of each unit you will have an assessment. This will typically consist of two parts: The first part is a
multiple choice assessment that has questions surrounding the vocabulary in the unit as well as reading passages which
require application of the content. The second part is an essay, where you will have to demonstrate your thorough
understanding of the learning objective(s) covered in the unit. You will typically be provided with the potential essay
questions at the beginning of the unit. It is highly recommended that you brainstorm and prewrite given that the
assessments are 80% of your total grade in the course.
Possible Essay Questions
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.--That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness
—The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/
1. Use the quote above from the Declaration to answer the following. Cite 3 key words or phrases from this selection.
For each of the three relate it to an Enlightenment idea or thinker and explain how each led to the separation from
Britain and signing of the Declaration of Independence.
2. The colonists tried other means of resolving their differences with the British before declaring their independence.
Explain these efforts.
3. Describe the course of events that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and explain whether you
think it was a justified response on the part of the settlers.
Things to consider when writing an essay:
-
You should have a well-developed introduction with a strong thesis statement (claim).
The body of your essay should include examples/details that support your thesis (warrant).
You should have a conclusion that links back to the introduction that demonstrates you fully answered the
question and highlights the significance (impacts) of your answer.
Critical Thinking and Analysis Matters! You cannot just regurgitate facts.
Mechanics and hand-writing matter! Be neat and use proper grammar/spelling/capitalization, etc.
Annotation
In each unit there will be government-based reading (primary source document, current event, etc). This material may
seem difficult at first. It may take you reading the document more than once to fully comprehend the material. This is
NOT a bad thing. It will challenge you as a learner to understand how the literature applies to the concepts we are
discussing in-class. In order to assess that you are making those connections, I am asking you to annotate the
documents. I will grade your homework based on your annotations. Blank pages do NOT prove to me that you read
and interacted with the documents.
Annotate (Verb)
To add notes to (a text or diagram) giving explanation or comment.
I would recommend underlining or highlighting KEY points in the document, starring passages you see as major
themes/messages and writing in your own comments (predictions, questions, summaries, reactions). You may/should
have to circle words you don’t know and look them up in a dictionary.
Name: ______________________________
Mods: ______________________________
American Government Unit 1: Key Vocabulary List
(Chapter 2 in the book, pages 30-63)
1. Enlightenment
2. Monarch
3. Parliament
4. Ordered Government
5. Limited Government
6. Representative Government
7. Magna Carta, Petition of Right, English Bill of Rights
8. Rule of Law
9. Common Law
10. John Locke
11. Baron de Montesquieu
12. Natural Rights
13. Popular Sovereignty
14. Social Contract
15. Stamp Act Congress
16. Tea Act
17. Intolerable Acts
18. First Continental Congress
19. Second Continental Congress
20. Declaration of Independence
Two Treatises of Government (1690)
John Locke
John Locke published Two Treatises of Government in 1690. Locke was trying to justify the Glorious Revolution and England's
new government. His work later supplied the philosophical support for revolutions in both the American colonies and in France.
Directions: Read the excerpts from John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and answer the questions that follow each passage.
Consider how Locke’s theories and beliefs about what was the role of government in society, limitations placed on government,
and what power the people had over the government may or may not have inspired those colonists who were in favor of declaring
independence from England.
Excerpt 1:
To understand political power, we must consider the condition in which nature puts all men. It is a state of perfect
freedom to do as they wish and dispose of themselves and their possessions as they think fit, within the bounds of the
laws of nature. They need not ask permission or the consent of any other man.
The state of nature is also a state of equality. No one has more power or authority than another. Since all human beings
have the same advantages and the use of the same skills, they should be equal to each other. The state of nature has a
law of nature to govern it. Reason is the law. It teaches that all men are equal and independent, and that no one ought
to harm another in his life, liberty, or possessions. All men are made by one all-powerful and wise Maker… Men have
been put naturally into a state of independence, and they remain in it until they choose to become members of a
political society.
What is the “state of nature”? _______________________________________________________________________
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What is the “Law of Nature”? _______________________________________________________________________
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How does man live in the State of Nature? According to Locke, why is living in the state of nature dangerous?
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According to Locke, when are men no longer in “a state of independence”?
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Excerpt 2:
If a man in the state of nature is free, if he is absolute lord of his own person and possessions, why will he give up his
freedom? Why will he put himself under the control of any person or institution? The obvious answer is that the rights
in the state of nature are constantly exposed to the attacks of others. Since every man is equal and since most men do
not concern themselves with equity and justice, the enjoyment of rights in the state of nature is unsafe and insecure.
Hence each man joins in society with others to preserve life, liberty, and property.
According to Locke, why would man want to join others and enter a society when he is his own master over his property
and possessions?
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According to Locke, what are the fundamental natural rights all men are entitled to?
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Excerpt 3:
Since men hope to preserve their property by establishing a government, they will not want that government to destroy
this objective. When legislators (lawmakers) try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to reduce
them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who can then refuse to obey the laws. When
legislators try to gain or give someone else absolute power over lives, liberties, and property of the people, they abuse
the power which the people had put into their hands. It is then the privilege of the people to establish a new legislature
to provide for their safety and security. These principles also hold true for the executive who helps to make laws and
carry them out.
What does Locke say man has the right to do when the government tries to pass unfair laws or tries to destroy or take
away the property of the people?
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Excerpt 4:
Perhaps some will say that the people are ignorant and discontented (unhappy) and that a government based on their
unsteady opinion and uncertain humor will be unstable. They might argue that no government can exist for long if the
people may set up a new legislature whenever they do not like the old one. But people do not easily give up their old
forms of government. In England, for example, the unwillingness of the people to throw out their old constitution has
kept us to, or brought us back to, our old legislature of king, lords, and commons.
What role do the people play in government? What power do the people have in government?
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Transcript of Declaration of Independence (1776)
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
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.--That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their
future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which
constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny
over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended
in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to
attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those
people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on
the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the
Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the
State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions
within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for
Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising
the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing
Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and
payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and
eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the
Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an
Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms
of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us
in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death,
desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the
most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their
Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of
our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated
Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act
which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of
attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the
circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would
inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them,
as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing
to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the
good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right
ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and
that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances,
establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the
support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Declaration of Independence
1. Read through the Declaration of Independence at least once and then answer the following
questions.
2. There are four distinct parts/sections of the Declaration of Independence. Identify each
part/section and explain the purpose of each.
a. ________________________________________________________________________
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b. ________________________________________________________________________
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c. ________________________________________________________________________
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d. ________________________________________________________________________
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3. Cite specifically the line(s) that represent the Social Contract Theory.
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4. Why do you think the representatives included a List of Grievances in this document when they had
already sent partial lists to the King before?
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5. Who is the intended audience of the Declaration of Independence?
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6. Do you think the representatives were trying to justify their actions to anyone other than England?
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a. Who were they trying to justify their actions to?
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b. Why? ____________________________________________________________
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