FOUNDATION OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this Unit 2 is to provide the student with an under-standing of the foundations on which the American government is based. Specifically, the outline will review the Enlightenment, the philosophers and documents which influenced the Founding Fathers, British policies which drove the colonists to rebel against England, theideas that influenced the Declaration of Independence (DOI), and the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation (AOC).
VOCABULARY
1. Enlightenment:A period of time when political philosophers thought about the relationship between government and the people. The Enlightenment philosophers (Locke and Montesquieu) said that the power to govern comes from the people, not from God.
2. Declaration of Independence (DOI): A document written by the colonists, mostly by Thomas Jefferson, which was told Britain that the American colonies were breaking away from Britain to form the USA. The DOI is also known as America’s “Breakup Letter.”
3. Articles of Confederation (AOC): After the US won the Revolutionary War, its 1st type of government was a confederation (power shared by national and local govern-ments [States] in which most of the power is held by the States. Under the AOC, the USA’s national government was very weak and the States held all the important powers. The USA used this type of government because the Founding Fathers did not want to have another monarchy and wanted to keep power in the people. The AOC was the document that told the national and local governments which power they had.
ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS
America relied on 2 Enlightenment thinkers- Locke and Montesquieu.
Locke- Locke had 2 ideas which influenced the Founding Fathers: Natural Law and Social Contract. Locke’s theories influenced the DOI.
Natural Law- Natural Law says that a person gets his rights from God, not from the King. A person is born with certain rights that can’t be taken away.
Social Contract- Locke said that people enter into acontract (agreement) with the King. People give up some of their personal rights (natural law rights). The King agrees to protect the people’s other rights and property.
Montesquieu- Montesquieu had 2 ideas which influenced the Founding Fathers: 3 Branches of Government and Separation of Powers. Montesquieu’s ideas influenced the US Constitution.
3 Branches of Government: Montesquieu said that one person can’t hold all the power of government. Power must be shared. He said that power should be divided between a group that makes laws (legislature), carries out the laws (execu-tive), and interprets the laws (Courts). This way, no leader can become a dictator and abuse the rights of the people.
Separation of Powers- Montesquieu said that each branch of government should have power that checks (limits) the power of the other branches. This way, no branch can become too powerful.
FOUNDATION DOCUMENTS: Several documents influenced the Founding Fathers as they wrote the DOI and the Constitution.
Magna Carta- The Magna Carta was the first limitation of a King’s power. Eng-lish nobles forced the King to agree that the nobles had certain rights. The Magna Carta also allowed trial by jury. This idea is found in our 6th and 7th Amendments.
English Bill of Rights (EBOR): The EBOR granted freedoms and protections to all British citizens, not just the nobles. The colonists argued that the King was denying them rights under the EBOR because colonists were being taxed without having representatives in Parliament and by being taken back to England for trial without a jury
Mayflower Compact: First document in America to set up self-government.
Common Sense- Written by Thomas Paine, this pamphlet urged colonists to rebel against England. Paine argued King George III was a tyrant and violated colonists’ rights.
BRITISH POLICIES
Taxing: After the French and Indian War, England began taxing the colonists. England said colonists benefitted from the War and should pay England’s debt. Colonists reacted by: 1) smuggling goods; 2) refusing to pay taxes; 3) asking to have repre-sentation in Parliament; and, 5) boycotting English goods.
Trade:America was a British colony. Its purpose was to provide England with raw materials at low prices so British merchants could make goods and sell them back to the Colonists at high prices. Colonists wanted to sell to and buy goods from whom they want-ed, not only to England. Colonists reacted by: 1) smuggling; 2) selling goods ille-gally; 3) boycotting; and 4) destroyed British goods (Boston Tea Party).
Quartering Act: Britain passed a law that allowed its soldiers to be housed and fed by colonists. The Quartering Act was Britain’s response to the Boston Tea Party.
DOI
The DOI was America’s notice to King George III that the Colonists were leaving Britain and forming a new country. DOI used Locke’s ideas.
4 Parts to the DOI:
1. Introduction: Colonists told Britain that Colonists possessed natural rights and that the Colonists could rebel if the King abused the Colonists’ rights.
2.Social Contract and Natural Law- Colonists explained that they had natural rights and that the King abused those rights by taxing the Colonists without their consent.
3. List of Grievances- Colonists set out a list of complaints against the King to show him how he had abused their natural rights.
4. Declaration- Colonists tell King George that they are leaving Britain.
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
After independence, the US formed a confederation (strong state government and weak national government) because they were afraid of having a new monarch that a strong national government would lead to a monarchy. Also, states wanted to hold on to their power and not give it up.
Weaknesses of the AOC- The AOC turned out to be not effective.
1. No national executive- The AOC did not have a president so other countries had to deal with 13 separate states.
2.No national Court- The AOC did not have a Supreme Court so there was no Court to settle disputes between the States.
3. Congress could not tax. The national congress did not have the power to tax so it had to ask the states for money to run the government.
4. Trade- Each state made up its own rules regarding trade and moving goods through their states. Often, states would add taxes which raised the price of goods from other states.
5. The AOC was hard to amend- In order to amend the AOC, all 13 states ahd to agree. This gave small states great power over the larger states.
6. It was hard to pass laws at the national level- In order to pass a law, 9 of the 13 states had to agree. Today, we only need a simple majority- 50% + 1 vote.