Do Now: Get out a sheet of paper and something to write with.

1. Do Now: Get out a sheet of paper and something to write with.

2. Unit 1: Constitutional Underpinnings of the U.S. Government

3. Analyze the influence of ancient Greek, Roman, English, and leading European political thinkers such as John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Niccolò Machiavelli, and William Blackstone on the development of American government. 1.1 Roots of the American System

4. Key Question • What factors from the Enlightenment Era and American Revolution serve as a foundation for American government?

5. I. Intellectual Origins of the Constitution A. The Enlightenment • The Framers of the Constitution lived in a period of intellectual ferment known as the Enlightenment. • European political thinkers and writers challenged traditional views of the relationship between the people and their government. • Enlightenment ideas took root in the American colonies, where they became the dominant philosophical and political views of the time. Leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison used Enlightened ideas to justify their opposition to the British government.

6. B. Key Enlightened Ideas • Reason • Reason meant the absence of intolerance, bigotry, and superstition • Reason could be used to solve social problems and improve society • Natural Laws • Progress • Liberty • Toleration

7. B. Key Enlightened Ideas • Reason • Natural Laws • Natural laws regulate human society • These natural laws can be discovered by human reason

8. B. Key Enlightened Ideas • Reason • Natural Laws • Progress • Social progress is possible • The discovery of laws and government would improve society and make progress inevitable • Liberty • Toleration

9. B. Key Enlightened Ideas • Reason • Natural Laws • Progress • Liberty • Europeans lives in societies governed by absolute monarchs who restricted speech, religion, and trade. Enlightened writerswanted to remove these limitations on human liberty. • Enlightened thinkers believed thatintellectualfreedom was a natural right. Progress required freedom of expression. • Toleration

10. B. Key Enlightened Ideas • Reason • Natural Laws • Progress • Liberty • Toleration • Enlightened thinkers opposed superstition, intolerance, and bigotry. • They advocated full religious tolerance.

11. C. Key Political Writers • 1. John Locke • Locke believed that people are born with “natural rights” that include “life, liberty, and property.” • People form governments to preserve their natural rights. Government is therefore based on the consent of the governed. • Government is a contract in which rulers promise to protect the people’s natural rights. • If rulers betray the social contract, the people have a right to replace them. • 2. Charles de Montesquieu • 3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau • 4. Niccolo Machiavelli • 5. William Blackstone

12. C. Key Political Writers • 1. John Locke • 2. Charles de Montesquieu • In his “Spirit of Laws,” Montesquieu concluded that the ideal government separated powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. • This system of divided authority would protect the rights of individuals by preventing one branch of government from gaining unrestricted control over the entire society. • 3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau • 4. Niccolo Machiavelli • 5. William Blackstone

13. C. Key Political Writers • 1. John Locke • 2. Charles de Montesquieu • 3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau • In his “Social Contract,” Rousseau argued that the sovereign power in a state does not lie in a ruler. Instead, it resides in the general will of the community as a whole. • Rulers are the servants of the community. If they fail to carry out the people’s will, they should be removed. • 4. Niccolo Machiavelli • 5. William Blackstone

14. C. Key Political Writers • 1. John Locke • 2. Charles de Montesquieu • 3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau • 4. Niccolo Machiavelli • Main concern is the ruler’s ability to gain and maintain power • Truth is defined by EFFECT, not intention • i.e. Freedom • 5. William Blackstone

15. C. Key Political Writers • 1. John Locke • 2. Charles de Montesquieu • 3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau • 4. Niccolo Machiavelli • 5. William Blackstone • People should obey the law • The law should protect freedom and property • “Better that 10 guilty people escape than 1 innocent suffer”

16. Homework • Make flashcards for: • The Enlightenment • John Locke • Charles de Montesquieu • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Niccolo Machiavelli • William Blackstone