Foundations of American Political Philosophy

1. Foundations of American Political Philosophy

2. Magna Carta • Protections from unjust punishment • Protection of life, liberty, and property • Certain taxes must have the consent of Parliament

3. English Bill of Rights • Rejection of absolutism • Parliament must approve: Suspension of laws, Taxes, Standing Army • Monarch cannot interfere in Parliamentary elections or debate • Guarantee of fair and speedy trial by peers • Forbids Cruel and Unusual Punishments

4. Locke: “Two Treatises on Government” • Social Contract: rulers given authority by the consent of the governed • Inalienable rights: Life, liberty, and Property • Governments formed to protect rights

5. The Mayflower Compact “Civil Body Politick”

6. FACT: • The American Revolution was a bad break-up that was just waiting to happen … taxes were just the straw that broke the Camel’s back • Like the lemons in “The Break-Up”

7. Colonial History • Virginia – Jamestown (1607) • Chartered as a merchant colony; tobacco main cash crop (hoped for gold); indentured service and rough men; slavery – first natives then • 20:1 ration men to women; drinking gambling • Massachusetts – (1620; 1630) • Pilgrims: Plymouth; first go to Netherlands, then to America; working class and humble • Puritans: Boston; very religious (intolerant); high education and professional; carefully plan colony, legislature based on English government; high living standard • Maryland (1632) • Founded as catholic refuge later begin to allow protestants; becomes slave colony

8. Colonial History • New York (1670) • Originally New Amsterdam; set up as trading post (fur) with no future plans and no military presence; English take over in 1670 and rename • Carolinas • Settled by plantation owners from Barbados, bring system with them; rice plantations spring up, need for slave labor (African); slaves out number colonists 2:1 by 1700s • Pennsylvania • Founded by Quakers; radical and egalitarian, universal suffrage; maintain friendly relations with natives, outlaw slavery

9. Colonial Governments • Diversity • Religious vs. Commercial roots • Escape from primacy • Written Constitutions • Separation of Powers • Limited government • Colonial Legislatures • Made policy for day-to-day issues • British policy of Salutary Neglect

10. Road To Revolution • The Proclamation Line (1763) • barring colonial settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania • The Sugar Act (1764) • establish a British monopoly in the American sugar market • allowed royal officials to seize colonial cargo with little or no legal cause

11. Road To Revolution • The Stamp Act (1765) • “taxation without representation.” • Sons of Liberty and Stamp Act Congress • The Townshend Duties (1767) • taxed glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea entering the colonies. • profits used to pay the salaries of the royal governors • Boston Massacre (1770) • Committees of Correspondence (1770-1772)

12. Road To Revolution • Boston Tea Party (1773) • Tea Act in 1773 eliminated import tariffs on tea entering England • a group of colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped about $70,000 worth of the tea into Boston Harbor • Intolerable Acts (1774) • Closed Boston Harbor to trade until the city paid for the lost tea. • Removed certain democratic elements of the Massachusetts government, most notably by making formerly elected positions appointed by the crown. • Restricted town meetings, requiring that their agenda be approved by the royal governor • Declared that any royal agent charged with murder in the colonies would be tried in Britain. • Instated the Quartering Act, forcing civilians to house and support British soldiers