American Core Values
Government Philosophies
Basic Wordage and Principles
Federal Government
100
This core value ensures that different perspectives are valued and represented within our country and government.
Diversity
100
John Locke claimed that people were born with what?
Natural Born Rights.
100
What is government?
Any system which has rules which are designed to create order.
100
What are our three branches of federal government?
Legislative, Executive and Judicial
200
This core value ensures that laws are created to benefit to whole of the country at large.
Common Good
200
Why did Cicero claim that leaders became corrupt very quickly under a republic?
Because they held too much power without limitation and only focused on their own personal wealth rather than the good of the people.
200
What is the Constitution and Bill of Rights?
The Constitution is the supreme law of the law of the land which states what the government can and cannot do. The Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments of our Constitution which outline specific protections the people have.
200
What are role of each branch of our federal government?
Legislative: to make the laws
Executive: to carry out/enforce the laws
Judicial: to interpret the laws constitutionality
300
This core value ensures that wrong-doers receive appropriate consequences for actions.
Justice
300
How did John Somers influence American government?
John Somer's was part of the creation of the "English Bill of Rights" which outline the protections of the English people and parliament. This influenced American government because we added a Bill of Right to our constitution.
300
What is a direct democracy and how is this different than a republic?
In a direct democracy all people equally vote on government decisions which will apply to all people. In a republic, all people vote for a representative to make laws which will apply to all people.
300
Explain the checks and balance system by applying it to our three branches of federal government.
The Judicial branch cannot interpret laws if they are not created by the Legislative branch.
The Legislative branch cannot pass laws if the Executive branch does not sign them.
The Executive Branch can be impeached by a trial lead by the Legislative branch and overseen by the Judicial branch.
400
What is the idea of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness and Popular Sovereignty?
That a person can choose to pursue which ever lifestyle they choose so long as it makes them happy and it doesn't limit others ability to do the same. That the people give and take authority from our leaders.
400
How did Stephan Langton and the creation of the Magna Carta influence American government?
This was the first constitution in world history. A constitution is a document which specifically states what a government can and cannot do. This influenced American government because we created a constitution almost immediately once we declared independence.
400
Describe the "Allegory of the Cave" and its importance for helping humans understand people, conflict and government.
The "Allegory of the Cave" essential describes the struggle which those who search for truth have when they try to explain new ideas to those who wish not to learn. This is important because it tells us that although all people's voices matter, there needs to be someone regulating those ideas in order to preserve some kind of moral code or sense of structure. Without this, people would be left to their own devices and unmediated conflict would be pervasive throughout the world.
400
What are two specific powers of the each branch of our government other than their main roles.
500
What is the contradiction which we see with our American core values and how does human nature play into this?
We notice that for many of our core values, they are not applied or possibly were never applied in our country. This connects to human nature because people have tendencies to do and say different things as well be ignorant.
500
Describe why Jean Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes are seen as being on the complete opposite political spectrum?
These two are on opposite political ends because Thomas Hobbes believes that the best form of government is that which there is one strong ruler (generally speaking a monarch) while Rousseau claims that the best form of government is a direct democracy.
500
Describe the "state of nature" and how different philosophers claimed that this created the necessity for government to exist.
The state of nature is an existence without any rules or structure. Some philosophers claimed that people were naturally good and independent; others claimed that people were natural bad and competitive. This resulted in people claiming that government was needed in order to either provide equal access to resource or to protect individual property respectively.
500
Those who created our American Constitution intentionally made the Legislative branch the strongest and most powerful branch. They also made the requirements the most challenging for this branch. Why?
This is because they make decisions which apply to all of the country. If we have people who are making bad decisions for our country, the nation would be in a constant state of chaos.