Download Foundations of US Govt.

Foundations of America
Based on the concept of natural rights
Natural Rights
• What are some examples of the rights
enjoyed by American citizens?
• Are some rights more fundamental or
basic than others?
• How are these rights guaranteed and
protected in the American political
system?
Before American Government
• Kings and Queens ruled over countries
and whatever they said was the law
• This was known as a monarchy
• People had no individual rights until
brave men spoke up and encouraged
democratic revolutions and to throw off
the king and queen
Locke and Rousseau
John Locke
• The man responsible for the natural rights
concept
• Locke assumed that humans carried into
modern society rights that the gov’t couldn’t
take away such as life liberty and property.
• Rejected Divine Right: Rulers chosen by
God to lead
Jean Jacque Rousseau
• He combined individual rights with the
need for social cooperation
• He formed his own philosophy in his
“Social Contract”
• It said that people give up some rights
for social order as a state
Along comes America
• The concept of Natural Rights was the
basis for the American and French
Revolution
• It appeared in several important
documents including the Declaration of
Independence, The Bill of Rights, and
most importantly the Constitution
The Constitution
• Written in 1787 and ratified in 1789 after
several previous failed governments
• Contains 27 Amendments and 7 Articles
• The first 10 Amendments are known as
the Bill of Rights
The Constitution
• It is today the law of the land and
considered a flexible and living
document
• Why?
• It can be changed to fit America’s
current needs and applied to current
situations
The Constitution
• A hard battle was
fought to write the
Constitution
• Without this battle,
the Constitution
would not be as
important as it is
today in modern
America
Communist German
Border guard Defection
He realized he was not protecting
his country, but imprisoning its
people. Three days after the border
was closed, he leapt to freedom. On
August 15, 1961, at Bernauer
Strasse, becomes the most famous
border guard to defect.
•
Rights are those freedoms that
cannot be taken away.
•
Rule of Law is a state of order in
which events conform to the
law
•
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Questions to consider:
What is happening in this picture?
How is the government responding
to the rights of individuals?
Enlightenment Political Philosophies
•Enlightenment Video