Unit 1 Topic 2; Political Philosophy

SSCG2 Demonstrate knowledge of the political philosophies that

shaped the development of United States constitutional government.

a.Analyze key ideas of limited government and the rule of law as

seen in the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the English Bill

of Rights.

b.Analyze the impact of the writings of Hobbes (Leviathan), Locke

(Second Treatise on Government), Rousseau (The Social Contract),

and Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws) on our concept of

government.

c.Analyze the ways in which the philosophies listed in element 2b

influenced the Declaration of Independence

Unit 1Topics

1. Distribution of Power ✔

2. Political Philosophies ✔

Key Document-Magna Carta

• King John’s Absolute

Power

• Excessive taxes

• Forced to sign the Magna

Carta

• List of things King can’t

do.

• “No Tax without

Consent”

Key Document-Petition of Right

•King kept wanting

money to wage wars.

•Forced to sign to get

money

•No imprison without

reason, cruel

punishments.

Key Document-English Bill of Rights

•Consent to tax

becomes the

Parliament.

•Parliament has

free speech.

•King is not divine,

serves at the

permission of

Parliament

Political Philosophers; Thomas Hobbes

•Wrote The Leviathan

•In State of Nature Life was

“Nasty, Brutish, and Short”

•People gave up all their

rights and created an

absolute government to rule

over them.

•Once created could not get

rid of this government.

Political Philosophers; John Locke

•Wrote 2nd Treatise on

Government

•“People created

governments to protect

their rights”

•Rights were “life, liberty,

and property”

•If government failed to

protect these rights, people

had a right to get rid of the

government.

Political Philosophers; Jean Rousseau

•Said that people should

abandon their natural rights

in favor of a social

contract.

•Said that the best

government to protect

rights under a social

contract was a direct

democracy.

•Under a direct democracy

all men would be equal

Political Philosophers; Charles Montesquieu

•Wrote The Spirit of Laws

•Best way to protect the

people’s rights, was

through separation of

power.

•If power separated, no

one part of government

could become tyrannical.

Influence on United States Government

•Thomas Put these ideas

together in Declaration of

Independence.

•All men are created equal

(Rousseau)

•Unalienable Rights of Life,

Liberty, and Pursuit of

Happiness (Locke)

Influence on United States Government

•Governments are instituted

among men deriving their

power from the consent of

the governed (Hobbes)

•When governments become

destructive to these ends it is

the right of the people to alter

or abolish it (Locke)