Lecture: The Founding of the Nation

Unit 1: U.S. HistoryStandard 11.1

• 11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.

• 1. Describe the Enlightenment and the rise of democratic ideas as the context in which the nation was founded.

The Enlightenment

• an 18th-century European movement in which thinkers attempted to apply the principles of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of society.

Divine Right of Kings Social Contract Theory/Social Contract Theory/Natural Rights PhilosophyNatural Rights Philosophy

GOD

King

People

God People

King

The shift from the idea Divine Right ofKings to the Social Contract Theory was influenced by the EnlightenedPhilosophers.

Enlightenment Philosophers• Montesquieu

– 3 branches of government– Innocent until proven guilty

• Voltaire– No religious persecution– Everyone is equal– Freedom of press and speech

• Rousseau– Democracy is a good form of

gov’t.

John Locke 1632-1704• Natural Rights Philosophy

– Law of nature• Life, Liberty, Property

– Unalienable: cannot be taken away

• Legitimate government – protect natural rights– Can be revoked (revolution)– social contract

• The people give consent for the government to protect them.

– constitutional government

Enlightenment Philosophers

Why is the Enlightenment important?

• Enlightenment ideas were used by American colonists to justify their separation from England (American Revolution)

Standard 11.1.2

• Analyze the ideological origins of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers' philosophy of divinely bestowed unalienable natural rights, the debates on the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and the addition of the Bill of Rights.

The Origins of the American Revolution

• If a government fails to protect the people’s rights, the people have a right of revolution. – John Locke

• …that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government…– Declaration of Independence

Causes:

• Political:– England’s neglect of the colonies– Taxation w/out representation– Limitation of individual rights

• Economic:– Taxation– Mercantilism– Trade restrictions– Free enterprise– Economic power

• Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense swayed American colonists to declare independence.

The American

Revolution

America Declares Independence

Effects:

• Colonies declare independence– The Declaration of

Independence, 1776• Britain recognizes United

States independence.• George Washington

emerges as a leader.

The Declaration of Independence

• 11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.

Drafting the Declaration of Independence

• Committee of Five:– John Adams– Roger Sherman– Robert Livingston– Thomas Jefferson– Ben Franklin

• President of Continental Congress:– John Hancock

• Written by (Father of the Constitution):– James Madison

• Committee: well-educated white men

• Non- represented: African Americans, women, working class, Loyalists, Native Americans

• Voting rights: white, male property owners

The Declaration of IndependenceJuly 4, 1776

• Explained basic human rights and addressed their grievances against King George III.

– Meant to explain to the nations of the world reasons for seeking independence from Britain (hoped to get their support)

• We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that the are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights: Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government…