US Constitution (copy)

Who is Publius?

John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton

Who are the federalist papers trying to convince to accept the Constitution?

New Yorkers

What is the Constitution a result of according to Federalist 1?

Slow deliberation

Most governments are based on _____ and _______, but Publius wants to prove it is possible to make a government based on _______ and ________.

accident and force; reflection and choice

What is John Locke’s question?

How can we get a politic that is not dependent on God?

What was the first treatise on Government?

a writing saying that the king was not picked by God

Who wrote the treatise on government?

John Locke

Before government, everyone is in a state of?

natural freedom and equality

Freedom

can do whatever they want within the bounds of nature

Equality

equal opportunity to be killed; equally frail; all subject to the law of nature

What is the law of nature according to Locke?

Reason

What does reason cause you to do?

#1 preserve yourself, and #2, where it doesn’t conflict with #1, preserve other people

What happens if you mix labor with something?

it becomes your property

We do not need huge concepts, reason is just evident to normal people

Why do we need politics if we have freedom and reason?

people have different ideas of reason (hat example)

When does someone put themselves in a state of war with you?

when they have a settled or sedate desire to harm you

How do you get out of a state of war and into a civil society?

1. Everyone in one group decides to join the big body politic by agreeing to abide by the decision of the majority

2. the majority decides how they are going to organize power

What happens in a big body politic?

Everyone agrees to give up some of their power and some of their freedom

What is the law

definitions of reasonable action given the situation

What happens if the people who you have put in charge of the big body politic start to take too much power?

you get to have a revolution

What is the social contract theory?

the unspoken agreement between individuals to give up certain natural rights in order to enjoy the benefits of society

What us the topic of the Lyceum Address?

“the perpetuation of our political institution” (how to keep the government going)

What is the majority of the Lyceum address about?

the relationship between mobs and “the perpetuation of our political institution”

What is their current task according to Lincoln in the Lyceum Address?

preserving the government, gratitude to their fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, love for our species in general

How do they perform their task according to Lincoln?

the danger comes from within the country not without (national suicide)

the only thing strong enough to kill us is us

Lincoln is positioning us to think of America as something almost God-like

Why is national suicide a possible danger?

1. increasing disregard for law

2. growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu for the sober judgments of the courts

3. worse than savage mobs

What are the problems with mobs?

1. they might accidentally kill the innocent

2. example could cause the “lawless in spirit to become lawless in practice”

3. Even good guys lose faith in the system (worst problem)

What is the strongest bulwark of government according to Lincoln in the Lyceum address?

the attachment of the people

How does Lincoln propose they keep the people attached?

the constitution gives the people something to be attached to and a political religion to preach fervently

What is the Magna Carta?

25 barons getting together to force the king to agree to certain rights that are reasonable and expected

Which document carves out intermediate spaces of authority?

the magna carta

What are intermediate spaces of authority?

spaces where there is freedom for other types of authority outside of the authority of the king (ex. English church and London)

What is the first provision of the magna carta?

the English Church is free

Which document said that the English church is free?

The Magna Carta

What are the major concerns and demands of the barons in the Magna Carta?

1. freedom of church

2. inheritance

3. taxes

4. ancient cities and towns get their own liberties

5. due process

6. freedom of movement

   1. you don’t need to bribe someone to get in and out of your country

7. freedom of commerce

8. law of the land

   1. the king and all of its officials have to respect Welsh law when in wales, March law when in the Marches, English law when in England, Colonist law when in the colonies

What is due process in the Magna Carta?

1. you can’t punish someone more than the crime is worth

2. you can’t throw someone in jail for no reason

3. beginnings of jury trials (lawful judgment of equals)

4. fixed law courts

5. habeus corpus (requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention

How does the Magna Carta provide for the King to raise taxes?

general consent of the realm; get this consent through parliament

What is general consent of the realm?

the way for the king to be able to raise taxes according to the Magna Carta

What are the rules for inheritance laid out by the Magna Carta?

1. sets limit for the inheritance fee so the king cannot overcharge the inheritors

2. whoever has to care for the land until the underage inheritors can inherit is legally responsible for it and any damage they cause to it

3. widows cannot be forced to marry and have 40 days to move out of the house

Who is the king that was forced to sign the Magna Carta?

King John

What was the Petition of Rights?

The king was trying to redefine what he was doing to get around the laws of the land “I’m not taxing you without the consent of Parliament, I’m only requiring a forced loan” and this document tells the king that the law means what it means, not what the king says it means

Which document said that the law is bigger than the king and the King cannot redefine the law?

the Petition of Rights

What was the English Bill of Rights?

William and Mary of Orange have been brought in after the Glorious Revolution, and the British are saying “you can be king because we know you will agree to everything we tell you to do”

Who did William replace and what document did it involve?

Replaced King James in English bill of Rights

What are the rules that William and Mary have to follow?

they have to take an oath to never be Catholic, they can’t get rid of laws, must let people talk to the king, can’t have an army, let Protestants have weapons, free elections, due process, frequent parliaments

Which document let Protestants have weapons?

English Bill of Rights

What was the Mayflower Compact?

a document signed by the people on the Mayflower that was an agreement to join one big body politic that abides by the laws created by the majority

Why did they need the Mayflower Compact?

their ship was blown off course so they did not have a charter for the area that they landed in; there were not just Puritans on the boat

What was the purpose of the colony created by the Mayflower Compact?

1. the glory of God

2. advancement of the Christian faith

3. honor of king and country

In the Mayflower compact, did they separate themselves from Great Britain?

no

What do they promise to do in the Mayflower Compact?

“covenant and combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic”

How do they plan to “covenant and combine [themselves] into a Civil Body Politic” in the Mayflower Compact?

1. Making laws, acts, and ordinances

2. create and appoint officers to carry this out

   1. submission and obedience to the laws and the officers for the sake of preserving themselves

What is the first written Constitution in the New World?

the Mayflower Compact

Where was the Mayflower Compact written?

on the ship docked at Cape Cod

Which king gave the charter for the Mayflower?

King James

Who wrote “A Model Of Christian Charity”?

John Winthrop

What colony was “A Model of Christian Charity” an outline for?

Massachusetts

What was the main point of “A Model of Christian Charity”?

public good over private good

What are the reasons that there will always be income inequality according to John Winthrop?

1. God likes diversity and order

2. they show us different virtues

3. it causes everyone to need and rely on one another

What are the three conclusions from the fact that there will always be income inequality?

1. Christian love is a real force in the world, it is not a high fluffy ideal

2. Christian love binds us together into one body: the Body of Christ

3. This love is divine and makes us more like God

What is the difference between John Locke and John Winthrop?

John Locke separated religion and politics and John Winthrop says you need the Body of Christ for politics

How will the colonists know that God accepts the covenant according to Winthrop?

they will be like a shining city on a hill and will have peace

How will the colonists know if they are doing the covenant with God wrong according to Winthrop?

they will be a “byword to the nations”

Which document was the moment that the US finally broke ties with Great Britain?

The Lee Resolution

What does the Lee Resolution recommend?

1. form a Declaration of Independence

2. A call to form foreign alliances

3. make a plan for confederacy of some sort; some sort of their own government

What is the purpose of the Declaration of Independence?

“a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that we declare our causes that impel us to separation”

What are the main powers of the earth at the time of the Declaration of Independence?

Spain, France, Britain, the Dutch, Portugal

What are the truths that they hold to be self evident in the Declaration of Independence?

1. all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with inalienable rights

2. among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

3. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

4. whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and institute a new government

Why did they take out the word inherent when describing rights in the Declaration of Independence?

because it could be used to say that slaves have rights too

What did they take out of the final draft of the Declaration of Independence that made Jefferson mad?

Stuff about slavery and the criticisms of the English

What word did the declaration use instead of inherent?

inalienable

What are the self evident truths in the declaration?

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

“Eudaimonia”

pursuit of happiness; improving the state that is given to you

What does it mean to have an inalienable right to life?

you can’t be punished for attempts to preserve your life

this means that we get to appeal death sentences like crazy because you have the right to life

What does it mean to have an inalienable right to liberty?

your freedom cannot be separated from yourself

you will always have free will

even if your physical freedom is taken away, you get to think whatever you want to

What are the five big complaints in the Declaration of Independence?

1. legislative problems

2. immigration or free movement problems

3. judiciary problems

4. executive problems

5. war making

Where does the government get its power according to the Declaration?

from the consent of the governed

What kind of executive problems did the Declaration mention?

the king was refusing to approve laws that they needed; he approved acts of pretended legislation; he did not make parliament stay in its lane

What did the Declaration mean when it complained about war making?

the king declared the colonies in open revolt and sent troops to quell them even though they had sent him documents defending themselves

What is different about the Declaration of Independence/

they did not just list complaints, they did it in a nice way (live, laugh love way)

it is the first time that principles are given

it gives an escape clause

Does the Declaration of Independence give a plan for a specific form of government?

no, it is just saying that they will make a new government

What was our first attempt at a Consitution?

The Articles of Confederation

Why did the Articles of Confederation take a long time to be put in place?

it required unanimous adoption

How long were the Articles in effect?

8 years

What did the Articles of Confederation state?

1. Congress had power to sign treaties and make alliances; the states could not

2. citizens of individual states can freely engage in commerce with other states

3. stipulated times for elections and for meetings of congress

4. congress could tax, but individual states collected the taxes, so congress could not enforce them

5. expenses of war came from a common treasury

In the Articles of Confederation, who gets the powers not explicitly stated?

the states

How did the Articles describe the relationship between the states?

as both a firm league of friendship and a perpetual union

What can the new central government do under the Articles?

1. declare war

2. conduct foreign relations and make treaties

3. appoint high ranking military officers

4. a final appeals court for big disputes between the states

5. oversee a common treasury for common expenses

6. take on the debt that was incurred at the beginning of the war

7. raise troops based on the population of white people

   1. taxes allotted to each state based on how much land and the value of the land that each state has (wealth)

What was the required proportion to make decisions under the Articles?

9/13 states for most things and unanimous for big decisions

Under the articles, what do the states do if they have problems with each other?

go through a process and go to the highest court of appeals

What did the president do under the Articles?

served for one year and didn’t do anything

How did the legislative branch work under the articels?

• each state has one vote, but each state can have a committee of 2-3 delegates

• for basic everyday decisions, like adjourning the meeting for the day, they need a majority

• for bigger questions, like going to war or deciding how many troops they would call for, they needed a super majority (9/13)

• for huge questions, they needed a unanimous decision

What were the state powers under the Articles?

1. no state may accept foreign gifts or titles or granting of nobility

2. stats cannot form “sub-national roots” (alliances with other states or countries)

3. no state may tax or interfere with the treaty stipulation already proposed

4. they could not have their own navy

5. they were required to have well-trained, disciplined, and equipped militia in case other countries tried to come in and invade

6. they “must collect taxes”

7. they must recognize the privileges and immunities of citizens in other states

Which document described the relationship between the states as both a firm league of friendship and a perpetual union?

the Articles of Confederation

In which Federalist Paper does Publius says that everyone agrees that the Articles are not working?

Federalist 15

What is the problem with the articles according to Publius?

the law touches the state and not the individuals and you can’t punish a state

which federalist paper says that the problem is that the law touches the state and not the individuals?

Federalist 15

According to Federalist 15, what are the two biggest fixes that the articles need?

1. government needs to make laws with punishments that can apply to the individual

2. government needs the power to actually apply those punishments

What were the causes of national humiliation according to Federalist 15?

1. they have debt that they can’t pay

2. Spain was monitoring the Mississippi

3. Lack of military and British troops are still hanging out on their soil

4. They can’t hold up their end of promises and alliances

Why does national humiliation matter?

if they are not respected by other countries, the other countries will view them as a country that can be easily taken over