influences of the US government

Magna Carta

helped formulate laws used in the US constitution

John Locke

wrote about tabula rasa (blank mind at birth) & natural rights / believed in social contract

John Locke

Thomas Jefferson studies his ideas, which were the used to create the US constitution

Montesquieu

wrote about how governments should be created & maintained / believed that liberty meant the peace of mind that come from being safe & following laws, separation of powers, & checks and balances

Montesquieu

his ideas guided the founding fathers in creating the constitution

English Bill of Rights

limited control of the monarchy & gave the people more power, gave people more freedoms (speech, no taxation, free from cruel & unusual punishment)

English Bill of Rights

helped frame the US Bill of Rights

Enlightenment

ideas of natural rights, state of nature, social contract, consent of the governed, & republicanism

Enlightenment

the founding fathers recognized many of the ideas from this time and used them in the Bill of Rights

Thomas Hobbes

wrote Leviathan / believed in state of nature, social contract, & single sovereignty

Thomas Hobbes

his ideas built the constitution on ideas like the social contract

Mayflower Compact

created to escape England for religious & political freedom

Mayflower Compact

framed the constitution on the opposite of the framework of the English government

Rousseau

wrote The Social Contract / believed in government protecting liberty & helping people get along, natural & social freedom, & government should follow the general will (best intrest of society), majority rule, representative democracy, direct democracy

Rousseau

helped create a democracy based on his ideas, inspired the quote “a government of the people, by the people, for the people” by Lincoln