The US Constitution
- An enduring symbol of democracy
- One of the oldest, shortest written constitutions of the modern era
- It features a series of pragmatic compromises between the state and other shareholders
- Created a strong central government balanced against reserving power for the state to
regulate affairs within their borders
- A significant contributor to political thought was John Locke, an English philosopher, who
believed that certain “natural rights” granted by God should be protected without
government intervention
“The Social Contract” - The people agree to be ruled by the government in exchange for the
government protecting their fundamental rights, such as life, liberty, and property.
If this social contract is broken - the government failing to protect rights or abusing power- then
people can withdraw their consent and form a new government to protect their rights.
To change/break the social contract now is to vote people out of office.
Magna Carta- British monarchs agree not to harm or infringe on the rights of citizens (mostly
lords)
- Prohibited imprisoning free men without “lawful judgment of peers”
- The core principle is limited to government protecting rights and liberties
- Different perspectives
- Locke believed rights existed, with or without government, so the government had to
bend to those rights
- Magna Carta is somewhat an example of benevolent governance- a compromise to quell
a rebellion
- Eventually, the concept of “natural rights” evolved and become part of English law, and
eventually in the US through laws called “The Bill of Rights” that listed core fundamental
rights
- Critical movement in American history as the country decided to part ways with England
and form a new government
- Many in the new country (voting class) had seen the effects of too much power
concentrated in a single entity, the monarch
- But the country remained under threat from the world superpowers at the time– such as
England, France, and Spain
- If the colonies were separate entities, the superpowers would pick them off one by one
- Many in the voting class at the time were used to “representative government” in
England
- Had no say in being prohibited from settling in new lands west of the Appalachian
mountains after the war with France and denied property rights, levying new taxes
against the new country (America).
- An enduring symbol of democracy
- One of the oldest, shortest written constitutions of the modern era
- It features a series of pragmatic compromises between the state and other shareholders
- Created a strong central government balanced against reserving power for the state to
regulate affairs within their borders
- A significant contributor to political thought was John Locke, an English philosopher, who
believed that certain “natural rights” granted by God should be protected without
government intervention
“The Social Contract” - The people agree to be ruled by the government in exchange for the
government protecting their fundamental rights, such as life, liberty, and property.
If this social contract is broken - the government failing to protect rights or abusing power- then
people can withdraw their consent and form a new government to protect their rights.
To change/break the social contract now is to vote people out of office.
Magna Carta- British monarchs agree not to harm or infringe on the rights of citizens (mostly
lords)
- Prohibited imprisoning free men without “lawful judgment of peers”
- The core principle is limited to government protecting rights and liberties
- Different perspectives
- Locke believed rights existed, with or without government, so the government had to
bend to those rights
- Magna Carta is somewhat an example of benevolent governance- a compromise to quell
a rebellion
- Eventually, the concept of “natural rights” evolved and become part of English law, and
eventually in the US through laws called “The Bill of Rights” that listed core fundamental
rights
- Critical movement in American history as the country decided to part ways with England
and form a new government
- Many in the new country (voting class) had seen the effects of too much power
concentrated in a single entity, the monarch
- But the country remained under threat from the world superpowers at the time– such as
England, France, and Spain
- If the colonies were separate entities, the superpowers would pick them off one by one
- Many in the voting class at the time were used to “representative government” in
England
- Had no say in being prohibited from settling in new lands west of the Appalachian
mountains after the war with France and denied property rights, levying new taxes
against the new country (America).
