Types of Government
Natural Rights according to the English Philosopher John Locke
What is life, liberty, and property?
This governing document determined functions/jobs for Congress. It also created an executive branch and established a national court system (previously, none existed).
What is the Constitution?
The idea that humans have the ability to recognize right from wrong
What is natural law?
In this type of government, people elect officials to represent them; decision-making can be sluggish due to compromise.
What is republicanism (a republic)?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, expanded on the social contract to include this idea - that the government should be based on the needs of the people
What is popular sovereignty
These individuals (Hamilton, Jay, Madison) favored a strong national/central government and wrote essays published in the New York Times to promote the Constitution.
Who are the Federalists?
The freedoms of speech and religion, the right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and the rights of the accused and of those on trial are all basic rights for everyone.
What are individual rights?
This type of government requires direct participation (e.g. referendums) from all citizens which makes it difficult to maintain among larger populations.
What is direct democracy?
This French philosopher recommended that government be divided into 3 equal branches with a system of checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power.
Who is Baron de Montesquieu?
This compromise merged 2 plans, creating a 2-house legislature with representation based on state population and the Senate based on equal representation (2 votes per state).
What is the Great Compromise?
President Nixon confirmed this idea about leaders, when he committed perjury (lied) in court.
What is the rule of law?
This type of government - combining ideas from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome formed this new concept
What is a Democratic Republic?
Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, introduced this concept of an invisible agreement between all people and their government to create a peaceful existence
What is the social contract?
These individuals (Sam Adams and Patrick Henry) believed local/state government to be more responsive to citizens' needs and insisted that a Bill of Rights was needed to protect individual freedoms.
Who are the Anti-Federalists?
Combining ideas from ancient Greece and ancient Rome - the United States created the first form of this
What is Democratic Republic?
A new concept - having a weak central authority with limited purposes, with most power remaining with the state governments
What is the Articles of Confederacy?
These American politicians (and presidents) included the ideas of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Who are Thomas Jefferson and James Madison?
This organization was created for electing the president; a popular vote conducted in individual states would in turn determine how electors should determine their votes for president.
What is the Electoral College?
This governing document is considered a living document that can be modified with the times, it is the guiding law of the land.
What is the Constitution?
A political system in which legalized force is restricted through delegated powers.
What is limited government?