The Origins of American Government

Unit II: The Constitution & Federalism

Journal #5

Name (1 pt) Date (1 pt) Copy question (1 pt) Answer (7 pts)

"All men are created equal" is one of the most cited phrases of the American Revolution. What does this phrase mean to you?

Declaration of Independence

"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.

-Thomas Jefferson

Significance

Statement of our nation’s ideals

Lead to our fight for independence and creation of our own government

Justified our revolt against a government that we felt no longer guaranteed our natural rights

HOW DID WE GET TO THIS?

Early Influences: Ancient Babylonia

Code of Hammurabi First “codified” (listed) set

of laws1772 BC (Mesopotamia)282 laws & punishments½ of code deals with

property

One of oldest & longest deciphered ancient writings

“Diorite stele” (7’4” tall)

Code of Hammurabi

KEY IDEA:

LAWS MUST BE WRITTEN DOWN

Early influences: Ancient Hebrews

Law of Moses (Torah, “instruction”)Offenses against deity, not society (different than Code

of Hammurabi) Introduced notion that no one is above the law, not even

a king

Moral laws: murder

Social laws: marriage, property

Food: what is “clean,” storage

Feasts: Passover

Sacrifices: burnt offerings

The 10 Commandments

1. I am the Lord your God Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

2. You shall have no other gods but me.

3. You shall not take the name of your Lord in vain.

4. You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.

5. Honor your father and mother.

6. You shall not kill.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his bull, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

LAW OF MOSES

KEY IDEA:

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW

Early Influences: Ancient Greece

Direct democracy

Every citizen is responsible for participating in government

Public debate

Ancient Greece

KEY IDEA:

CITIZENS MUST BE INVOLVED

Early influences: Ancient Rome

Representative democracy (republic)

Too large for a direct democracy Citizens chose other citizens to represent them in the

government assemblies (Senate)

Veto

The power of the leader of the executive branch to say NO to a law passed by the legislature

ANCIENT ROME

KEY IDEA:

REPUBLIC

Early Influences: England

Magna Carta (1215)(Latin for “great charter”)

EnglandKing JohnBarons conspire (high

taxes, war, loss of land)Open rebellion (no

obvious replacement)Forced to sign

MAGNA CARTA

1st document that imposed limitations on the King

AND

protected rights of subjects

Magna Carta

KEY IDEA:

PROTECTED RIGHTS

Early Influences: England

Common Law

Origins 11th centuryEnglish tribes has own customsDisputes handled on case by case basis…look

at earlier cases & see how it was settled…spreads

CASE by CASE builds law & judicial system

Common Law

KEY IDEA:

PRECEDENT

Early Influences: Theorists

European Enlightenment Thinkers John Locke (1632-1704 British)

Natural rights (life, liberty, and property); Right of revolution

Voltaire (1694-1778 French) Religious freedom Freedom of speech

Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755 French) Checks and balances Different spheres of Gov’t (i.e. Three Branches)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778 Genevan) Rejected Divine Right Theory Gov’t. power came from people

Early Influences: America

Iroquois Confederacy United the Seneca, Cayuga,

Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora (1722) nations (5,500 pop.)

Warfare almost constant; agreement brought peace among these nations

Iroquois ConfederacyGovernment

“The Great Law of Peace” (1451…some debate here)

Confederacy: each tribe ran own affairs, met to settle disputes & go to war against others

Common council (“Great Council of Fire”); made up of clan/village chiefs

1 vote for each tribe; unanimity required for decisions

“caucuses”, democratic (anyone could speak), adopted in U.S.

Culture

Women: Keeper of cultureSet political normsNominated chiefsDescent traced through mother (marriage move in with wife’s family, children member of her clan)

MUCH more power than colonial women

Iroquois

KEY IDEA:

CONFEDERACY

America: Road to revolution

Timeline of events

Freedoms Held by the Colonists Under British Rule

People could hold and transfer property

No enforced payments for an established church

No limit to wages

No guilds of exclusive professional associations

Basic freedoms of speech, press and assembly

About 15-25% of American Colonists remained loyal to the British Crown

England & the colonies

MercantilismColonies benefit the “mother country”

Trade

Timeline of Events The French and Indian War: 1754-1763

With the defeat of the French, the colonies became less dependent on Britain for protection

Britain was now in deep debt.

Timeline of events

Royal Proclamation (1763)

England prohibited settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains

Kept colonists from antagonizing Native Americans …more $ for more troops

Colonists angry…thought the defeat of the French would give them a chance to move west

Taxation

Sugar Act of 1764

Raised revenue for England by increasing taxes on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies.

There was ALREADY a HIGH TAX on sugar…pay a bribe..custom officials look the other way

NEW Sugar Act, LOWERS taxes, but NO bribery…you have to pay the tax

Timeline of Events

Currency Act of 1764

Colonies were not allowed to make or create their own paper currency.

Stamp Act: 1764

Required tax on stamps for many different trade items and documents including playing cards, legal papers, newspapers and marriage licenses.

Taxes weren’t really the issue, what bugged the colonists…NO REPRESENTATION in Parliament

Timeline of Events

Stamp Act Congress: 1765

In 1765, 27 delegates from nine colonies met in New York City and drew up a statement of rights and grievances thereby bringing colonies together in opposition to Britain.

Quartering Act: 1765

House British soldiers in public buildings (inns, stores)

MONEY issue for the British crown

Timeline of Events

Boston Massacre: 1770

British troops in Boston to protect officials enforcing unpopular legislation…TENSE

Mob formed around British soldier; open taunting.

British soldier reinforced by 8 others; mob starts throwing items.

Soldiers fired on crowd; killed 5

Heightened tensions…colonial propaganda?

Timeline of events

Tea Act of 1773 To assist the failing British East India Company,

the Company was given a monopoly therefore forced the colonists to buy only their tea.

Main stockholders of British East India Company? Members of Parliament

Merchants won’t buy British items (tea, paint,

glass) British ship has to leave harbor (other ships

coming in)

Boston Tea Party

Dec. 16, 1773

342 crates of tea dumped into Harbor

King & Parliament are MAD

Make them pay for the tea!

Timeline of events

Intolerable Acts (1774)

Placed numerous restrictions:

Closed Boston Harbor (starve the people)1 town meeting per yearBritish soldiers, not tried in same place (underlying message…do what you want)Quartering Act (private homes)Quebec Act (Conquered people govern yourself)

Timeline of Events First Continental Congress: Sept. – Oct. 1774

In response to the Intolerable Acts, 12 of the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia (Georgia absent).

Resulted in colonists boycotting all British goods.

Timeline of events

British troops sent to Lexington and Concord, MA. (April, 1775)

Seize stores of colonial gunpowder and capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock

At Lexington, open conflict Eight Americans killed (“shot heard ‘round the

world”)

1st event of open warfare

Timeline of Events Second Continental Congress: May, 1775

All 13 colonies were represented in Philadelphia.

The colonists still hoped that their grievances would be met by King George III.

George Washington was named head of the Continental Army.

Timeline of events

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense“ (1776)

VERY influential pamphlet!

Up until then, hope for reconciliation

Paine: America should control itself and become independent.

Rejected the Divine Right theory (Kings were appointed by God)

Quotes fromQuotes from Common Sense Common Sense

A long habit of not thinking a thing is wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.

Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that every lived.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

Declaration of Independence

Declaration Of Independence (July, 1776)

The colonies declaration to King George III to succeed from the British crown.

Ideas rooted in: Locke’s social contract

Paine’s ideas

“Free and independent”

Declaration of Independence

1) Statement of Democratic Principles: all men are created equal; all men have certain natural rights which include life,

liberty, and pursuit of happiness government gets its authority from the people

2) Statement of Grievances and Accusations 3) Concluding Statement

Break with England

Reading of the Declaration of Independence (p. R38)

1. Declaration of Natural Rights

2. List of grievances

3. Resolution of independence by the United States

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU

Declaration of Independence

"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.

-Thomas Jefferson

“an immortal declaration”

“Perhaps [the] single phrase" of the American Revolutionary period with the greatest "continuing importance“

Did the creators of this document believe that “all men are created equal?”

White, male, property

“an immortal declaration”

Have we realized the ideal of “all men are created equal”?

Slavery abolishedWomen’s suffrageCivil rights movement

Is there still work to do?