WGU C963 American politics and US Constitution|| 225 questions|| verified

Social Contract correct answer: An agreement between people and government in which citizens consent to being governed so long as the government protects their natural rights. Natural Rights correct answer: the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property State of Nature correct answer: A theory on how people might have lived before societies came into existence. is a condition in which all of us live individually and solitarily, prior to the existence of society. We are physically and mentally capable of achieving our own survival. Montesquieu () correct answer: contribution in The Spirit of the Laws (1748) regards the structure of political institutions. He argues for a separation of powers: legislative, executive, and judicial. Each will serve as a check on the power of the other, limiting the harm each might do. separates power to offset the power of different social interests: ordinary people, the aristocracy, and the monarch. Thomas Hobbes (): correct answer: One of the first individuals to contribute to the idea of the social contract was a pre-Enlightenment English philosopher. Hobbes argues that society is not something natural and immutable, but rather it is something created by us. We do this to resolve problems we collectively face, to make our lives better. State of Nature: it's "a war of all against all." Basically, the state of nature is a pretty nasty place where lives are perpetually insecure. John Locke () correct answer: we are autonomous individuals, capable of using reason, and are driven to advance our personal interests. Our primary interest is survival, which we want to make secure and comfortable. To achieve this security and comfort, we acquire property. Two Treatises of Government, disagrees, saying the state of nature is a relatively decent place. All its inhabitants are rational people, mindful of the basic law of nature to not harm another, and people will get along okay. But our relationship in the state of nature is "inconvenient," implying an incentive for us to devise a better, more convenient arrangement. Jean-Jacques Rousseau () correct answer: A French man who believed that humans are naturally good and free and can rely on their instincts. He also advocated a democracy because he believed the government should exist to protect common good. Like other Enlightenment thinkers, he was passionately committed to individual freedom, but he attacked rationalism and civilization as destroying, rather than liberating, the individual. He also called for a rigid division of gender roles, believing women should be subordinate in social life. His ideals greatly influenced the early romantic movement, which rebelled against the culture of the Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century. Rousseau was both one of the most influential voices of the Enlightenment and, in his rejection of rationalism and social discourse, a harbinger of reaction against Enlightenment ideas. Constitution is influenced by the Enlightenment correct answer: (Separation of powers) embodies Montesquieu's principles by separating the legislative, executive, and judicial power, placing each into the hands of different political actors. Bill of Rights influenced by Enlightenment correct answer: • The First Amendment gives us a definitive declaration for the protection of natural rights. Protections of individual conscience as well as protections for democratic participation (John Lock ideology). • The Second Amendment, which also embodies Lockean ideas, permits the possession of arms for the "security of a free State."14 In this Amendment, the right to rebellion is established. • Due process says all citizens are subject to fair and equitable treatment. • The Fourth - Eighth Amendments serve to both limit the power government has over us and lay out procedures which must be followed when dealing with us. • The Ninth Amendment makes it clear that the list of rights protected in the first eight Amendments is not exhaustive and that we, the people, can assert additional natural rights when we see fit (at least in theory.) • The Tenth Amendment makes clear that powers not specifically granted to the federal government are retained by the states and the people (these last two are Lockean ideals) Declaration of Independence influenced by Enlightenment correct answer: Locke maintains that society is a rational but voluntary expression. Government, which serves to regulate the terms of the social contact on which society is created, serves to protect our natural rights and serve as a democratic conduit for our interests. Most important of our natural rights are liberty and property. National Government under the Articles of Confederation correct answer: unicameral congress, or one chamber known as the Confederation Congress. no executive or judicial branch. Functions in order to make sure that the national government did not have too much power and that the power of the states remained protected. had the authority to exchange ambassadors and make treaties with foreign governments and Indian tribes, declare war, coin currency and borrow money, and settle disputes between states. Each state legislature appointed delegates to the Congress; these men could be recalled at any time. Regardless of its size or the number of delegates it chose to send, each state would have only one vote. Delegates could serve for no more than three consecutive years, lest a class of elite professional politicians develop. The nation would have no independent chief executive or judiciary. Nine votes were required before the central government could act, and the Articles of Confederation could be changed only by unanimous approval of all 13 states. Powers under the Articles of Confederation (national government): correct answer: The Power to Borrow and Coin Money The Power to Declare War The Power to Make Treaties and Alliances with Other Nations The Power to Regulate Trade with the Native Americans