Unit 1 Terms

Constitution

A supreme set of rules that set forth the powers and structure of government and the rights it protects. The significance is that it is the backbone of governmental systems and can be amended.

Constitutionalism

A principle that the government needs to follow the rule of law and the limitations from the constitution.. Significance: This establishes the importance of setting a constitution which properly restricts government and protects rights.

Limited Government

The idea that government is restricted, usually by a constitution, basically under the umbrella of what limited government does. Significance: prevents tyranny and and arbitrary government, basically protects the people from infringement upon their rights from the government.

Ordered Liberty

Making a government not too strong but not too weak, one of the major dilemmas with constitutionalism

Monarchy

A right form of government promoting the common good, which Aristotle liked, where a single ruler is the head of state and is inherited in one line of rule. This is good until it devolves into tyranny without checks.

Tyranny

The bad form of monarchy, when the monarch acts unchecked and strips people of their rights instead of acting for the common good.

Aristocracy

A few rulers from a small and elite ruling class govern the people. This is basically Plato’s philosopher kings where the most deserving have power, promotes classism and the coin idea, but can devolve into oligarchy and arbitrary rule without checks.

Oligarchy

A corrupt form of government where the wealthy few rule and act in their own self interest, and where they abuse the lack of checks in an aristocracy.

Polity

Aristotle’s favorite kind of government, where the many rule directly for the common good through a system that mixes democracy and aristocracy.

Democracy

Form of government in which political power belongs to the people, and it allows the people to have a role in the government, however raises fears of majority tyranny, and is an example of popular sovereignty.

Direct Democracy

Evil version of democracy, basically the selfish majority will always act on impulse and self interest and not with classical republican ideas which act in the common good.

Republic

A government in which people hold political power, but it is exercised through elected representatives and established laws. This combines popular sovereignty and representative government, and rule of law. It prevents the issues of direct democracy while allowing people to control the government, effectively helping them reach a better form of democracy.

Classical Republicanism

A political theory focused on acting for the common good, and will only really work in small communities. Basically you put away your interests for the better of society.

Civic virtue

The willingness of the citizens to put the common good above purely personal interests and participate in their government and community, since working together for a common purpose promotes good government and helps the common good. Governments felt this would be important, so they made sure that it was learned through moral and religious education.

Plato

He was an ancient Greek philosopher who was a student of Socrates and author of The Republic. He had a few ideal states, some good some bad. His ideal state was philosophers ruling kingdom, and them being born to a ruling class. He wanted the common good to be put first in any case. Also believed in the myth of the metals, where your mother determines what class you are in.

Aristotle

He was an ancient Greek philosopher who analyzed different types of constitutions. He disagreed with the idea of classes being set and that it would create conflict. He wanted leaders to be servants of the law because the law doesn’t act on impulse. right forms of government promote common good: monarchy, polity, aristocracy, corrupt governments tyranny, oligarchy, democracy. Feared mob rule a lot and preferred aristocracy, hence why it was Aristotle who made it.

Cicero

He was a Roman Statesmen and philosopher, and he really liked classical republicanism and in turn emphasized civic virtue. He wrote de republica, which is the basis for classical republicanism and touches on ideas of popular sovereignty. He was hella for the common good, and believed that aristotle’s good governments all kinda sucked and that the best government mixed all of them, which the Roman republic did.

He believed that the best way to live was to live morally.

Divine Right

The political doctrine that kings derive their authority directly from God, they genuinely believed it too.

Inalienable rights

Rights that cannot be taken away, surrendered, or transferred by a government

Natural rights

Rights that all people are born with such as life, liberty, and property

Popular Sovereignty

People hold supreme power and are the ultimate source of political authority.

Consent of the governed

A government is only legitimate if the people agree to let it rule them. Doesn’t have to be active consent, can be tacit consent where if you follow the laws then you are saying yeah I’m chill with this.

Right of revolution

The moral right of a people to overthrow a tyrannical government

Social Contract Theory

An agreement among individuals to form a state and exchange some rights for protections of others and other social benefits.

State of nature

The hypothetical state of humanity where there is no state or society Hobbes thinks people will be hella awful, Locke thinks that everyone would keep to themselves, Montesquieu believed the state of nature would be timid.

John Locke

A philosopher physician and felt that rulers should function to avoid conflict. The ruler should be kind of absolute but the ruler shouldn’t be completely absolute. He has two treatises for government, mostly the second one is important because the government protects rights, social contract, etc. Upholds property rights for slavery, and is more of a property rights guy than a natural rights guy. Property comes from labor, so if you labor into something you own it.

Thomas Hobbes

He was lowk a tutor as well, and since he lived through the English Civil War, he was very afraid of incident and conflict because of it. He wrote The Leviathan in response. He believes that in order to have a society, you need to mitigate conflict before structuring society. He believed in his book that power was centered in a single person. Without a state, people are in a state of nature and war, and in order to avoid that, we give power to a sovereign to avoid that war and authorize the sovereign, and even if we don’t do that actively, by not rebelling you are essentially consenting.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Lowk a drama queen, believed that the will of the people is the general will and that all men are equal and that government abiding by the general will is the only way to justify it

Baron de Montesquieu

A french political philosopher who advocated for the separation of powers and branches of government. The government should protect liberty, law, and property through a separation of powers.

Feudalism

Medieval social system based on land tenure, lords, and vassals

Renaissance

It was a resurgence of Greek and Roman thinking and philosophy in the arts and sciences and focused on the individual.

Machiavelli

He was an Italian Renaissance Political philosopher who focused on whether or not to be feared or loved by the people as a ruler, and decided that the usage of fear as a method for rule was more effective, however when not necessary love is okay.

Protestant Reformation

Refocus on personal faith and new churches, causes a lot of war, is especially popular in England, and the rejection of the authority of the catholic church was an important aspect of this as well.

Martin Luther

Guy who started the protestant reformation,translated the bible from latin into german so more people could read it and nailed his 98 theses to the door of the church.

Enlightenment

This was an 18th century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and individualism. This is where natural rights come up and it causes a reexamination of the role of the individual in government.

Common law

A prototype to the unwritten constitution where tradition and precedent are the laws that are in place, basically following what has already happened rather than laws passed by a legislature.

Magna Carta

1215 document that limited the power of the English monarch and established legal rights, and it sets the precedent of constitutionalism and starts the notion kinda of popular sovereignty.

Rights of Englishmen

These are the traditional liberties that English subjects have that have come from centuries of English Common law.

Rule of Law

The principle that all people and institutions must obey the law.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

This is legal recourse protecting people against unlawful imprisonment, and requires proof that the detention was legal.

Stuart Kings

The Stuart kings were a group of nobles who came into power after Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 and had no heir to the throne. They were very catholic (didn’t sit well with most english people). The order went James I, Charles I, Interregnum, Charles II, James II. They were very absolutist (didn’t sit well with most people).

Petition of Right

This was a 1628 English Constitutional document outlining specific liberties that the king cannot infringe upon. Was a passive aggressive petition asking for rights, but was dismissed by parliament.

English Civil War

Charles I didn’t really fw the Petition of Right and tries to disband Parliament, but then parliament lowkey refuses and then there is an armed conflict for 9 years, which influences our boy Thomas Hobbes hella.

Commonwealth, also known as the Interregnum

After Charles I is executed, Oliver Cromwell leads England into a grinch era. He shrinks parliament and becomes anti fun, which makes him very unliked and wanted to rule very protestantly and orderly.

Glorious Revolution

The peaceful overthrow of King James II in 1688 establishing parliamentary supremacy. After King James II ran away, William and Mary of Orange (Holland) ruled for them.

William Blackstone

He was an english jurist and author of commentaries on the laws of England, and posited that human laws are only valid once they align with the laws of nature and that god will protect natural rights. To do this, precedents must be strictly adhered to and the absolute sovereignty of the legislative must be respected.

Slavery Abolition Act 1833

British parliamentary act that abolished slavery across most of the British Empire

Massachusetts Body of Liberties

The first legal code established in New England which laid out the laws and rights of the people of Massachusetts, and was pretty progressive for its time, but with a grain of salt.

Pennsylvania Frame of Government

The constitution for Pennsylvania authored by William Penn, had several ideas used in our government today like a bicameral legislature, executive veto, freedom of worship, and impeachment.

Indentured servant

A laborer bound by contract to work for a specified employer for a fixed period, usually for land.

Primogeniture

The common law right of the firstborn son to inherit the family estate, rather than the widow or wife.

Separation of Powers

Dividing governmental responsibility across multiple branches to ensure all branches had limitations on their power in some forrm.

Salutary Neglect

British Crown Policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws in the colonies.

Writs of Assistance

General search warrants issued by British colonial courts.

Edmund Burke

British statesman and philosopher known for his forms of conservatism. He championed political continuity and a non-abstract apporach to government, basically asking why we would ever stray away from common law. The trustee model of representation in his Speech to the Electors of Britol, he argued that the constituents interests should be protected over the opinion of the constituents.

Declaration of Independence.

The declaration of independence declared the US independent from britain and in it we complained about not having the rights of englishmen.

Virginia Declaration of Rights

Basically Virginia’s version of the Bill of rights, granted free religion and freedom of the press, and outlined legal rights as well. It was a 1776 document drafted by George Mason detailing the inherent rights of men.

Massachusetts Constitution

Drafted in 1780, the world’s oldest functioning written constitution. Outlines a lot of positive rights of men and places it first in the constitution. First state constitution to get ratified by the convention and the people of the state, it is the oldest functioning written constitution.

Alexis de Tocqueville

He was a french diplomat and author of Democracy in America who lowkey glazed America for our ability to work for the common food while also being materialistic. Believed that democracy had both potential but also tyranny of the majority, and majority tyranny was a big thing. A vibrant local government can serve as an essential check to preserve individual liberty against state overreach.

Enlightened Self Interest.

Philosophy stating that acting to further others’ interests ultimately serves one’s self interest, so if I make a hospital and save a bunch of lives and get money, I am an example of Enlightened self interest.

John Stuart Mill

English philosopher and proponent of utilitarianism and individual liberty. He founded the idea of the harm principle, when the only reason that power can be used on a person against their will is to prevent harm, and believed that freedom of speech is necessary to prevent the tyranny of majority.

John Rawls

American political philosopher and author of A Theory of Justice.justice as fairness," a modern social contract theory designed to build a completely just and egalitarian society. His defining concept is the "veil of ignorance," a thought experiment where individuals design a society's rules without knowing their own future race, gender, class, or personal abilities. From behind this veil, he argued that rational people would choose two fundamental principles: absolute equality of basic liberties for all, and a system where socioeconomic inequalities are permitted only if they work to the maximum benefit of the least-advantaged members of society (the difference principle).