Civics Core 100, Goal 1

Goal 1: The learner will investigate the foundations of the American political system and explore basic values

and principles of American democracy.

THREE REGIONS OF COLONIES

• NEW ENGLAND• MIDDLE • SOUTHERN

New England Colonies

• Religious freedom sought

• Hilly, rocky soil• Shipbuilding and

trade• Puritans, pilgrims

New England Colonies = Blue

Middle Colonies

• Bread basket colonies• Farmers: wheat and

other cash crops• Busy ports (New York

and Philadelphia) because of foreign trade

• Industries: sawmills, mines, ironworks

• Quakers(peace loving peoples) in Philadelphia

Middle Colonies = Yellow

Southern Colonies

• Warm climate and long growing season = large-scale agriculture (tobacco)

• Rice, indigo, and grain -Cash crops

• Dependent on slave labor

Southern Colonies = Pink

Mercantilism

• Great Britain’s policy toward the American Colonies under George III around 1760.

• Theory that a country’s power depends on its wealth:– Sell more goods to other countries than it

buys– Favorable balance of trade: more exports,

fewer imports – EXPORTS >IMPORTS

Triangular Trade

• Brought African Slaves to America through three part process

• From molasses to rum to slaves• From southern America, from New

England, from Africa

Triangular Trade

Trip from Africa to Americas known as Middle Passage

Mayflower Compact

• Precedent for Direct Democracy and Self-Government: Every citizen is involved– town meetings to discuss

and vote on issues of the town

• Created by Pilgrims on arrival from England

• Begins New World tradition of self-rule

House of Burgesses

• In 1619 in Jamestown, Va.

• 1st representative assembly – beginning of

self-government in the colonies

Long-Term Causes of the American Revolution

1. Taxation without Representation1. The colonies had no representatives to Parliament.2. Stamp Act of 1765: colonists must attach expensive stamps to all

newspapers and legal documents2. Mercantilism

1. Policy of Britain wanting to export more than import2. Requires colonies to trade solely with Britain and provide resources.

3. Salutary Neglect1. Colonies had gotten use to governing themselves with little interference

from England. 2. This changes after the French-Indian War.

4. Tradition of Self-government1. Stamp Act Congress: Oct 1765, 9 of 13 colonies sent representatives

to the Stamp Act Congress in NYC• 1st time majority of colonies join together to oppose British rule• British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act

Short-Term Causes of the American Revolution

1. Declaratory Act of 1766: Parliament had right to tax and make decisions for the American colonies “in all cases”

2. Townshend Acts: legalize the use of writs of assistance to assist customs officers in arresting smugglers

• General search warrants• Enter any location to look for evidence of smuggling

3. March 5, 1770: Boston Massacre: British soldiers fired into a crowd, killing 5

4. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense5. Protests and Boycotts of British Policy

1. Sons of Liberty2. Committees of Correspondence

Short Term Causes of the American Revolution continued…

“No taxation without representation!”

6. Tea Act: British East India Company gets the right to ship tea to the colonies without paying most of the taxes usually placed on tea– Their tea is cheaper than any other tea in the colonies– Boston Tea Party: Dec. 1773, group of angry colonists dressed

as Native Americans dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor

7. Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts: response of Britain to the Boston Tea Party

• restricted the colonists’ civil rights, including right to a trial by jury• Closed Boston Harbor• Placed Soldiers within Boston to control the port

Republic

• REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY– FORM OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED

STATES– OFFICIALS ELECTED BY THE POPULACE

RUN THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE

• System of limited government• The people are the ultimate source of

power

Representative Democracy

• Citizens choose smaller group to represent them, make laws, and govern on their behalf

• What Form of Gov’t do we have?

• Representative Democracy– U.S. is the oldest

Representative Democracy in the world

Purpose of Government

• PEPP:• Provide Laws• Enforce Laws• Provide Services• Plan for the Future

Declaration of Independence

• AUTHORE: Thomas Jefferson • INFLUENCES:

– Enlightenment ideas– Social Contract Theory of John Locke– John Locke’s Natural Rights-Life,

liberty and property– Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “All Men

are created equal”• Approved by the 2nd Continental

Congress on July 4, 1776• Included

– long list of abuses by King George III and called him a tyrant

– Also included the purpose of government (to protect the rights of the people)

Social Contract Theory

• Agreement between the government and the governed: the government and the people

• Contract states that the people will follow the rules of the government so long as the government looks out for their best interest. When the government stops looking out for the people, the people have a right to abolish the government.

• People agree to give up part of their freedom to a government in exchange for protection of natural rights

Social Contract within Declaration of Independence

• That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,

Constitutional Convention

• 1787 in Philadelphia• Purpose: To Revise the Articles of

Confederation which weren’t working• 12 of 13 states attended: Rhode Island

didn’t• Federalists vs. Anti-federalists

– Federalists wanted to strengthen the national government

– Anti-Federalists wanted states’ and people to maintain the power

The Great Compromise

• The two plans– Virginia Plan: representation based on states’

population– New Jersey Plan: Equal representation

• The Great Compromise(Connecticut Compromise)– 2 house legislature-bicameral– Senate based on equal representation(2 per state)– House of Representatives based based on states’

population as determined by census every 10 years

The Three-Fifths Compromise

• Delegates agreed that every 5 enslaved persons would count as 3 free people– 3/5 of the slave population in each state

would be used in determining representation in Congress and for taxing purposes as well

Articles of Confederation

• Our first national government in the United States

• It DID NOT WORK

WEAKNESS RESULTNo executive Couldn’t enforce

lawsNo judiciary Couldn’t settle

disputes9 of 13 to pass laws

Difficult to pass legislation

First Political PartiesDemocratic-Republicans Federalists

•Thomas Jefferson•Strong support in the South and West•People and states should retain as many rights as possible•Strict construction of the Constitution to limit the powers of the federal government•Members were made up of farmers, frontier settlers, small shopkeepers, and laborers.•Today’s Democratic party is a descendant of this party

•Alexander Hamilton•Strong support in New England•Fearful of placing too much power in the hands of the people;tyrannical majority•Favored a strong national government and believed in a loose construction of the Constitution to broaden the powers of the federal government•Believed that American’s future depended upon the development of a balanced and diversified economy•Well-to-do merchants, bankers, and manufacturers