Enlightenment
Explain the Enlightenment
an 18th-century European intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority, advocating for ideals like liberty, progress, and constitutional government
a system of government in which political power rests with the people who exercise it directly or through elected representatives.
Democracy
What are the Articles of Confederation?
the first form of government for the United States, establishing a "league of friendship" between the thirteen states from 1781 to 1789.
What was the Magna Carta?
a charter of rights and privileges that English barons forced King John to sign in 1215, limiting his power and establishing that even the king was subject to the law.
What was the Mayflower Compact?
a 1620 agreement by Pilgrims and other passengers to form a self-governing political body in the New World, establishing a system of "just and equal laws" for the general good of the colony.
the idea that a government is an agreement between those who are governed and those who govern.
Social Contract
A form of government with a monarch at the head.
Monarchy
Identify and explain two weakness of the articles of confederation
a weak central government with no executive or judicial branches, the inability to tax or regulate commerce, leading to economic instability and debt, the difficulty of enacting laws due to the need for a 9-out-of-13 state majority to pass them, and the near-impossibility of amending the Articles, as it required a unanimous vote from all 13 states.
Who did the Barons have an issue with during this time?
King John
What basic rules did the Mayflower Compact set for the colonists?
The Mayflower Compact stated that the colonists would make their own local rules and elect—and then obey—their own leaders.
Who said this, "Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Thomas Hobbes
a system in which the people elect the legislature, whose members then choose a leader to head the government
parliamentary system
In order to change the articles, what did the states have to do.
It could only be changed, if every state agreed to change it.
Who were the Barons
powerful feudal landowners and lords who held land directly from a monarch in exchange for military service and loyalty.
Who did the pilgrims include in the Mayflower compact?
God, King, and the countries they came from.
This enlightenment thinkers once stated, "Every man owns himself and his own labor," to assert property rights, and argued that people have the right to remove rulers who fail to protect their natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
John Locke
a system of representative democracy in which the people elect both the legislature and the head of government
presidential system
Identify the two parties that argued for and against a stronger central government.
Anti-federalists and federalist
What did the Magna Carta encourage the colonists to do?
Break away from the king.
Where were the pilgrims supposed to land and where did they end up landing?
Hudson river and Cape Cod
Compare and contrast the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
The both had their own views on how a government should be ran.
Thomas Hobbes believed people should give their freedoms up to the government.
John Locke believed the government should work for the people.
What is the difference between an unicameral and bicameral government system?
bicameral, adj. in a legislature, having two separate houses or chambers.
unicameral, adj. in a legislature, having a single house or chamber
Why didn’t the creators of the Articles of Confederation make the national government stronger? What concerns might they have had?
The creators of the Articles of Confederation were concerned about granting too much power to a national government at the expense of the states. They feared that national leaders for so large a country would become too powerful to be held accountable for their actions.
Why did the New nation find inspiration from the Magna Carta?
it established core principles that the American colonists believed were being violated by the British Crown.
How did the Mayflower Compact influence the formation of the U.S. government?
The Mayflower Compact influenced the formation of U.S. government by establishing the principle of self-governance and the social contract—that government derives its authority from the people—laying a foundation for American democracy, rule of law, and constitutionalism that shaped later documents like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.