Download From jusnaturalism to American Revolution

From jusnaturalism to American Revolution
Questa presentazione è la sintesi di un lavoro più grande dall'omonimo titolo che io ho voluto
realizzare con gli alunni della classe 4b del Liceo scientifico Lussana di Bergamo. Una
presentazione molto più ricca è stata pubblicata e potete consultarla al presente link:
.
Era necessario ridurre il nostro lavoro per renderlo fruibile a coloro che avessero avuto l'urgenza di
visionarlo in maniera sintetica. Buona lettura.
Prof.ssa Cristina Finazzi
This is the sum up of a longer work with the same title, which has been created by my students
and me. We Have worked using Clil methodology and we have written an interesting product,
visibile at this link:.......
The class involved is my class 4b of liceo Lussana From Bergamo. You can enjoy this shorter
product; if you need a longer work to read, clil on the link above. Have a good read.
Prof.ssa Cristina Finazzi
Class 4B Liceo Lussana
Bergamo
The property rights
Locke believes that makers have property rights on what they make just as God has "property
rights" on human beings, because he is their maker. Human beings are created in the image of
God and share with God, though to a much lesser extent, the ability to shape the physical
environment according to a rational pattern or plan.
The right of freedom
For Locke "this freedom from absolute, arbitrary power, is so necessary to, and closely joined with
a man's preservation, that he cannot part with it, but by what forfeits his preservation and life
together: for a man, not having the power of his own life, cannot, by compact, or his own consent,
enslave himself to any one, nor put himself under the absolute, arbitrary power of another, to
take away his life, when he pleases. Nobody can give more power than he has himself; and he that
cannot take away his own life, cannot give another power over it."
LOCKE
HOBBES
The 17th Century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes is one of a handful of truly great political
philosophers, whose masterwork Leviathan rivals in significance the political writings of Plato,
Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Rawls. Hobbes is famous for development of the “social
contract theory”, the method of justifying political principles by appeal to the agreement that
would be made among rational, free, and equal persons. By the social contract, he affirms that we
ought to submit to the authority of an absolute sovereign power. Hobbes' moral philosophy has
been less influential than his political philosophy. Most scholars have taken Hobbes to have
affirmed some sort of personal relativism or subjectivism, but also projectivism. Hobbes held that
“the true doctrine of the Lawes of Nature is the true Morall philosophie”, differences in
interpretation of Hobbes's moral philosophy can be traced to differing understandings of the
status and operation of Hobbes's “laws of nature”. The formerly dominant view that Hobbes
espoused psychological egoism as the foundation of his moral theory is rejected.
The Philosophical Project
Hobbes wrote several versions of his political philosophy, including The Elements of Law, Natural
and Politic published in 1650, De Cive (1642) published in English as Philosophical Rudiments
Concerning Government and Society in 1651, the English Leviathan published in 1651. Others of
his works are also important in understanding his political philosophy, especially his history of the
English Civil War. Writings on Common Law and Hereditary Right.
Hobbes sought to discover rational principles for the construction of a civil polity that would not
be subject to destruction from within. Having lived through the period of political disintegration
culminating in the English Civil War, he came to the view that the burdens of the most oppressive
government are “scarce sensible, in respect of the miseries, and horrible calamities, that
accompany a Civill War. Subjects should not dispute the sovereign power and under no
circumstances should they rebel.
The State of Nature, to Hobbes, is the condition in which people live before any pact of association
and submission. In this state each person decides for herself how to act, and this person is judge,
jury and executioner in her own case whenever disputes arise. Everything is possible in order to
protect your own life and property, so people follow their selfish passions.
Hobbes defines this situation "the condition of mere nature", where there are no laws and
institutions. Hobbes argued that such a "dissolute condition" makes impossible all of the basic
security upon which comfortable, sociable, civilizes life depends.
There would be “no place for industry and no culture of the earth, no navigation; [..] no
Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; and which is worst of
all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death"
If this is the state of nature, people have strong reasons to avoid it, which can be done only by
submitting to some mutually recognized public authority, for “so long a man is in the condition of
mere nature, (which is a condition of war,) as private appetite is the measure of good and evill.”
The State of Nature Is a State of War
Taken together, these plausible descriptive and normative suppositions led to a state of nature
potentially full of struggle that causes disagreement. The right of each to all things produces
serious conflict, especially if there is competition for resources. People will quite naturally fear
that others may (citing the right of nature) invade them, and may rationally plan to strike first as
an anticipatory defense.Hobbes imagines a state of nature in which each person is free to decide
for herself what she needs, what she's owed, what's respectful, right, pious, prudent, and also free
to decide all of these questions for the behavior of everyone else as well, and to act on her
judgments as she thinks best, enforcing her views where she can. In this situation where there is
no common authority to resolve these many and serious disputes, we can easily imagine with
Hobbes that the state of nature would become a “state of war”, even worse, a war of “all against
all”.
The Laws of Nature
Hobbes argues that the state of nature is a miserable state of war in which none of our important
human ends are reliably realizable. Happily, human nature also struggle to escape this miserable
condition. Humans will recognize as imperatives the order to seek peace, and to do those things
necessary to secure it, when they can do so safely. Hobbes calls these practical imperatives “Lawes
of Nature”. These “precepts”, “conclusions” or “theorems” of reason are “eternal and immutable”,
always commanding our assent even when they may not safely be respected. They forbid iniquity,
cruelty, and ingratitude. Although commentators do not agree on whether these laws should be
regarded as mere precepts of prudence, or rather as divine commands, or moral imperatives of
some other sort, all agree that Hobbes understands them to direct people to submit to political
authority.
Religion
Hobbes' interest in theological issues responds to the need to neutralise the revolutionary power
of religion and to eliminate the disobedience founded on religion, in order to protect the unity, the
indivisibility and the absoluteness of sovereign power.
Hobbes wants to purify the Christian message of the false doctrines invented by the Church to
justify her political aspirations, a change in religious aspects is possible and it can lead to the
achievement of a state based in the far of death.
Establishing Sovereign Authority
When people mutually covenant each to the others to obey a common authority, they have
established what Hobbes calls “sovereignty by institution”. When, threatened by a conqueror,
they covenant for protection by promising obedience, they have established “sovereignty by
acquisition”. These are equally legitimate ways of establishing sovereignty, according to Hobbes,
and their underlying motivation is the same whether of one's fellows or of a conqueror. The social
covenant involves both the renunciation or transfer of right and the authorization of the sovereign
power. Political legitimacy depends not on how a government came to power, but only on
whether it can effectively protect those who have consented to obey it; political obligation ends
when protection ceases.
The Limits of Political Obligation
He reserves to subjects the liberty of disobeying some of their government's commands. He
argues that subjects retain a right of self-defense against the sovereign power, giving them the
right to disobey or resist when their lives are in danger.
His ascription of apparently inalienable rights—what he calls the “true liberties of subjects”—
seems incompatible with his defense of absolute sovereignty. Adequacy of that protection, it
seems that people have never really exited the fearsome state of nature. Bishop Bramhall, one of
Hobbes's contemporaries, famously accused Leviathan of being a “Rebell's Catechism.”
Absolutism
The main concern of Hobbes was to argue that effective government must have absolute
authority. Its powers must be neither divided nor limited. Only a government that possesses all of
what Hobbes terms the “essential rights of sovereignty”.
If each person is to decide for herself whether the government should be obeyed, factional
disagreement—and war to settle the issue, or at least paralysis of effective government—are quite
possible.
Hobbes on Women and the Family
He insists on the equality of all people, very explicitly including women. People are equal because
they are all subject to domination, and all potentially capable of dominating others.
In this relevant sense, women are naturally equal to men: their consent is required before they
will be under the authority of anyone else. He also argues for natural maternal right: in the state of
nature, dominion over children is naturally the mother's.
State and law of nature
The most important concept in Locke's political philosophy is his theory of natural law and natural
rights. The natural law is an old concept that means that moral truth is innate in mankind since
birth. An early contrast shows the difference between laws that are by nature and that are valid
for anyone, everywhere and the ones that are conventional and that are valid only in the
particular situation where they were born. This is the difference between natural law and positive
law.
The natural law is also different from divine law. Natural law can be discovered by reason and
applied to all the community, while divine law can be discovered only through God's revelation
and it is valid only for the group to whom it is revealed and whom God has chosen.
“Men living according to reason, without a common superior on earth, to judge between them, is
properly the state of nature."
The state of nature exists wherever there is no legitimate political authority able to judge disputes
and where people live according to the law of reason.
The stronger the grounds for accepting Locke's characterization of people as free, equal, and
independent, the more helpful the state of nature becomes as a means for representing people.
ems important to him that at least some governments have actually been formed in the way he
suggests. The central question is whether a good government can be legitimate even when it does
not have the actual consent of the people who live under it.
Separation of powers
Locke claims a legitimate government is based on the idea of separation of powers. He describes
the legislative power as supreme in having ultimate authority over “how the force for the
commonwealth shall be employed” and it should consist of elected representatives. The executive
power is entrusted with enforcing the law as it is applied in specific cases, because of its
understanding of natural law. Locke’s third power is called the “federative power” and it consists
of the right to act internationally according to the law of nature.Locke thinks that it is possible for
multiple institutions to share the same power. For Locke, legislation is primarily about announcing
a general rule stipulating what types of actions should receive what types of punishments. Locke
also affirms that the community remains the real supreme power. If the rule of law is ignored, or
in people are handed over to a foreign power, then they can take back their original authority and
overthrow the government.
Locke's thought also includes this prerogative: the right of the executive to act without explicit
authorization for a law, in order to better fulfil the laws that seek the preservation of human life.
Locke affirms that general rules cannot cover all possible cases and that inflexible adherence to
the rules would be detrimental to the public good. Locke also assumes that powers should be
used to protect the rights of the people and to promote the public good. The only appeal, for
Locke, is the appeal to God. The “appeal to heaven" involves taking up arms against your
opponent and letting God judge who is right.
Property
The earth can be considered the common property of people to be used for their survival and
benefit. Each person owns his or her own body and all the fruits that they perform with their
labour. Each person has the right to own things in this way by individual initiative. One can only
take so much as one can use. Locke applies these rules to the land.
Consent
Locke states consent as the mechanism by which political societies are created and individuals join
these societies.
Locke clearly states that one can only become a full member of society by an act of express
consent. However few people have actually consented to their governments, so almost no
governement is actually legitimate.
Locke's most obvious solution to this problem is his doctrine of tacit consent.
There will be in any movement or previously existing society many people who have never given
express consent, and thus some version of tacit consent seems necessary to explain how
governments could still be legitimate.
The power of the Government is limited by the public good. It is a power that has “no other end
but preservation” and therefore cannot justify killing, enslaving, or plundering the citizens.
Toleration
John Locke is in favor of the separation of the Church and the State, and the definition of the
respective areas is the first step.
The state is a society of people formed to preserve the "civil goods" (self-preservation, property
and freedom), it must be liberal and it must not interfere with religious problems.
The State can not use force to impose his opinion on something that does not concern the
wellness of the society.
Violence is not effective:
-people can not give up control of their souls to secular forces
-forced obedience can not change intimate belief
A Church, in Locke's opinion, is "a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their
own accord in order to the public worshipping of God in such manner as they judge acceptable to
Him, and effectual to the salvation of their souls".
A magistrate has the power of authority, but this power is unable to lead to salvation because
salvation depends on faith, and faith is a free intimate choice.
Locke condemns all the churches which try to impose their faith.
Only the churches that teach toleration and reciprocal respect must be accepted in society.
Economy
Economy was long marginalized by philosophy because, according to philosophers, it did not help
mankind to reach the common good. In Modernity, it is still not considered fundamental.
In Locke's opinion, God has given people the right of property and ordered them to work.
Work is the increase of property, and property determines the conditions of political participation,
but work is not enough to enjoy political rights: actually, Locke does not reach the idea of political
equality, that is why he does not condemn the slavery of black people.
HEGEL
There are no natural rights
Natural rights do not exist if the Law does not allow them
The Law is the expression of human will
Right is considered as something already existing or as a governement of Nature of Things.
Natural right is the beginning of the path leading to Historical rights.
Two perspectives: historical and thought
Hegel theorises two perspectives: the historical one, which is the way out of Nature, leads us
towards the affirmation of freedom, whereas the other, the perspective of thought, is a
conceptual articulation of thought. In Hegelian philosophy, this two perspectives are inseparable.
Freedom can be obtained only by following the historical path.
Locke's thought has influenced the American declaration of indipendence of 1776
"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."
From the "Declaration of Independence 1776, July 4th
But is it true that after the Declaration of Independence all the inhabitants of the United States of
America are equal?
For women, Indians and Black people, unfortunately the rights are not the same.
The Indians, the native people of North America have always been discriminated against since the
Declaration of Independence.
In the last accusation against the King of Great Britain, we can read :
"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.”
From the "Declaration of Independence"
Indians Wars
In the period after the American Revolution, Indians have to fight against the new nation of United
States that wants to expand in the north of the continent.
President Andrew Jackson
1830: Indian Removal Act
The Act passes by Congress in 1830, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.
The law authorizes the president to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes (Chickasaw, Choctaw,
Muscogee-Creek, Seminole and original Cherokee Nations) in the Southern United States for their
removal to the west of the Mississippi River.
President Andrew Jackson, in his Second Annual Message to Congress in 1830, says:
"It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government,
steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white
settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted the
provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their
example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages."
Trail of tears: the forced relocation
The Indian-removal process starts: in 1836, the federal government drives the Creeks from their
land for the last time: 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for Oklahoma don't survive the trip.
By 1838, about 2,000 Cherokees have left their home for Indian territories. President Martin Van
Buren sends General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and
his troops force the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while the Whites loot their homes
and belongings.
Then, they march the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian territory. Whooping cough, typhus,
dysentery, cholera and starvation are epidemic along the way, and historians estimate that more
than 5,000 Cherokee die as a result of the journey.
By 1840, tens of thousands of Native Americans has been driven off of their land in the
southeastern states and forced to move across the Mississippi to Indian territory.
1851: Indian Appropriations Act
This Act allocates funds to move Indian tribes into reservations to protect them.
In reality, reservations are a form of racial segregation.
1924: Indian Citizenship Act
This Act is proposed by representative Homer P. Snyder of New York and grants U.S. citizenship to
America's indigenous people.
Rights For Women
Women aren't considered on the same level as men and they haven't got the same rights as men.
That's why in 1848 a group of women gathers in New York, in the hamlet of Seneca Falls for the
first women's rights convention.
For two days, they discuss their social, civil and religious condition, their rights and the role of the
woman in the society.
On that occasion, 68 women and 32 men sign a document, the "Declaration of Rights and
Sentiments", written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the form of the Declaration of Independence.
After the introduction about the Inalienable Right of men and women and after the accusations
against the Man, we can read:
"Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social
and religious degradation—in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do
feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we
insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as
citizens of these United States.”
This Convention gives birth to the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
14^ Amendment
This amendment adopted in 1868 affirms the citizenship rights and equal protection of the law,
but...
...it denies the right to vote to women.
"...any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the
United States..."
19^ Amendment
Finally, after many years of efforts and struggles, in 1920 the 19^ Amendment is ratified: American
women can vote.
"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of sex."
Black people, after the Declaration of Independence, are in a condition of servitude, so the United
States does not recognise any rights to them.
1863: Emancipation Proclamation
During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaims the freedom of the slaves in
the states that are in rebellion.
The Emancipation Proclamation is a proclamation made by the President and an executive order,
not a law passed by Congress.
This Proclamation is applied to more than 3 million of the 4 million slaves of the United States.
Ex-slaves can be enrolled into the paid service of the United States' forces.
The 13^ Amendment abolishes servitude and slavery expect as a punishment for a crime
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction."
But the Black Code restricts African Americans' freedom, especially in the Southern States.
The white supremacy is still very strong: we can think, for example, at physical separations.
15^ Amendment
The 15^ Amendment is ratified with many difficulties in 1870.
After the American Civil War, Black slaves are free, but they still do not have any inalienable rights;
this Amendment tries at least to give the right to vote to them.
"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
But, after the 15^ Amendment, some states enact the poll tax laws that restrict the right to vote
for poor black and white people: actually, every man has to pay a sum of money to have the
opportunity to vote.
Receipt for payment of poll tax, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, 1917 (the $1 tax would be equal to
$18.41 today)
With the poll taxes, also the grandfather clauses are promulgated. They allow any adult male
whose father or grandfather voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote
without paying the tax.
Their purpose is to disenfranchise African American and Native American voters.
The poll tax laws and the grandfather clauses are part of the Jim Crow Laws, local laws that
contribute to racial segregation.
They replace the Black Code and affirm that African Americans have a "separated but equal"
status. In reality, they justify different and inferior services in education, in public places, in
restaurants, in public transportation and even different drinking fountains for African American
people.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Right Act of 1964 abolishes the Jim Crow Laws and the racial segregation in public places.
With this Act, Congress has the duty to guarantee equal protection of the laws and to protect the
right to vote of every citizen.
It is promoted by President Kennedy but, after his murder, it is Lyndon Johnson who signs the Act.
Voting Right Act of 1965
Finally, with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, any racial discrimination in voting is prohibited.
It is designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments.
It is signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among the guests behind him, there is Martin
Luther King, Jr.
John F. Kennedy addresses the Nation about Civil Rights on June 11, 1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks at the signing of the Voting
Rights Act on August 6, 1965
The English guilty acts
Sugar Act (5th April 1764)
The Sugar Act was the first attempt to finance the military defense of the colonies by Great
Britain.
Taxes on molasses were dropped to deter smuggling and to encourage British production
of rum. Colonial exports had to pass the British custom, and new levies were placed. These
measures led to widespread the protest.
Quartering Act (15th May 1765)
Quartering Act is the British parliamentary provision requiring colonial authorities to
provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or
villages. Resentment over this practice is reflected in the Third Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which forbids it in peacetime.
The Quartering Act was passed primarily in response to greatly increased empire defense
costs in America following the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s War. Like the Stamp Act, it
was also an assertion of British authority over the colonies, in disregard of the fact that troop
financing had been exercised for 150 years by representative provincial assemblies rather than by
the Parliament in London. The act was particularly resented in New York, where the largest
directly to the Suspending Act as part of the Townshend legislation of 1767. After considerable
tumult, the Quartering Act was allowed to expire in 1770.
Declaratory Act
(18th March 1766)
In the 1766 the Parliament declares that it has the right to tax their colonies: 'the [...]
colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and ought to be subordinate unto and
dependent upon the imperial Crown and Parliament of Great Britain'
Tea Act (10th May 1773)
In order to support the ailing East India Company, Parliament exempted its tea from import
duties and allowed the Company sell its tea directly to the colonies. For Americans Tea Act was
seen as a submission to the English.
Revenue Act (29th June 1767)
The Revenue Act was the first of the Townshend Acts. This act represented the Chatham
ministry's new approach for generating tax revenue in the American colonies after the repeal of
the Stamp Act in 1766.
(Duties on tea, glass, lead, paper and paint to help pay for the administration of the
colonies, named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. John Dickinson
publishes Letter from a Philadelphian Farmer in protest. Colonial assemblies condemn taxation
without representation.)
Intolerable Acts (May-June 1774)
The Boston Port Act was the first of the acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party. It
made the port of Boston closed. Boston Colonists disagreed with that imposition, because it had
punished the whole population of Boston, not only who had committed the riot act.
The Massachusetts act was very unpopular. The government of Massachusetts was under
the control of the king. The town meetings were limited.
The administration of justice act allowed the governor to choose the trials' place. Also in
England, the citizen of Massachusetts weren't reimbursed for their lost earnings. The English
officials were allowed to escape the justice.
The american revolution: the main battles
Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely
submit – appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.
~ Joseph Warren, 1775 ~
5 March1770. Boston Massacre
English troops are assailed by a crowd, so five Americans are shot by the British.
16 December 1773 Tea Party
Answer to the Tea Act.
Colonists, disguised as native americans, dump English tea in the Boston Harbour.
The war
Lexington and Concord
Massachusetts
On 19 April 1775 the British troops and the Minutemen began fighting: this first engagement of
the American Revolution was won by the militia of Massachussets.
Battle of Lexington
Bunker Hill
Charlestown
On 17 June 1775 the first important battle of the War of Independence took place; it was won by
the British, although they had more than one thousand casualties.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Long Island and White Plains
New York
Between August and December 1776, British forces occupied New York after American defeats;
the Battle of Long Island was the first after the issue of the Declaration of Independence.
The Battle of Long Island
Battle of Trenton
New Jersey
On 26 December 1776 in New Jersey a new battle was fought: thanks to George Washington's
military abilities, the Continental Army managed to win.
The Battle of Trenton
Battle of Princeton
New Jersey
By continuing the successes achieved some days before, on 2 and 3 January 1777, General
Washington attacked the British rearguard near Princeton and, then, he victoriously withdrew to
Morristown.
Saratoga
New York
Lacking supplies, 5,700 British, German and loyalist forces under Major General John Burgoyne
surrender to Major General Horatio Gates in a turning point in the Revolutionary War.
York Town
New York
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, Surrender at Yorktown or German Battle, ending on
October 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia, was a decisive victory by a combined force of American
Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the
Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by British lord and Lieutenant General
Charles Cornwallis.
Treaty of Paris
On the 3rd September 1783, Britain, France, Spain and the Colonies signed the Treaty of Paris,
which determined the official end of the first part of the American Revolution.
It stated:
⚪️the independence of the thirteen colonies that would become the USA.
⚪️that Britain renounced the Mississippi territories in favor to the Colonies, but kept Canada.
⚪️Free navigation on the Mississippi for both Motherland and Colonies.
Sources
www.britishbattles.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.visitprincetonbattlefield.org
http://kilbyqbarkmans.blogspot.it/2011/09/treaty-of-paris.html
www.allthingsliberty.com
Texts
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/americanrevolution/timeline.html.
Class 4^B
Liceo Scientifico "Filippo Lussana"
April 2015
Teacher Cristina Finazzi
Thanks to teacher Giovanni Rota Sperti for the linguistic advices.