Our Political Beginnings

1

• Our Political Beginnings
• Chapter 2i

2
European ideas on society and government were
carried to North America by colonists.
3
English common law

• similar to Roman law
• standardized judicial methods
• decisions based on precedent

4
precedent

• any action that may serve as an example or reason
  for making a similar action/decision later
• consist of previous decisions, royal decree,
  unwritten laws, and local customs

5
Magna Charta

• aka Great Charter
• signed in 1215
• English nobles and bishops forced the king to
  recognize that no one was above the law

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Seeds of ideas foundin the Magna Charta

• The right of a person to
• judgment by a jury of peers
• speedy trial
• protection from unjust punishment

7
Parliament

• the English representative and lawmaking body
• grew out of the Great Council, an advisory body
  to the king
• evolved over time as a check on the power of the
  monarch

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• British Parliament in London.

9
The English Bill of Rights(1689)

• a result of a power struggle in the mid-1600s
• limited the powers of the king
• -needed consent of Parliament to tax, change
  laws, or keep a peace-time army

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The Enlightenment1687-1789

• an intellectual movement in Europe that developed
  at the same time as an explosive period of
  scientific discovery and invention

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Teachings of the Enlightenment

• physical world is regulated by natural laws
• these natural laws might also be used to explain
  the behavior of society

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John Locke

• English doctor turned political philosopher
• stated that people possessed certain natural
  rights from birth life, liberty, and property

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Lockes definitionof government

• a social contract, or agreement, between the
  people and their government
• protects the natural rights of the citizens

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Locke believed people had the right to alter or
abolish government if it failed to protect their
rights.
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Charles de Secondat,Baron of Montesquieu

• a French philosopher
• believed that a division of governmental
  responsibility prevented the abuse of power

16
Jean JacquesRousseau(1712-78)

• French philosopher, social and political
  theorist, musician, and botanist
• one of the most eloquent writers of the Age of
  Enlightenment

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Jean Jacques Rousseau

• believed people once lived in a state of nature
  (i.e. freedom)
• saw government as a contract
• advocated that people alone have the right to
  determine how they should be governed

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tyrants

• defined by Rousseau as those who rule unjustly,
  or at the expense of their citizens personal
  freedom