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?
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