EXTRA Review for ESSAY 11-14-12 (scroll down for older posts to review all material and outline)

Can you answer these two questions in essay form?

1- What principles and ideas found in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were inspired by the enlightenment thinkers?  Explain in detail!

2- How did these ideas change the way society and government were run? (Compare to the past)  How is our idea of government different from previously held political views?  Explain in detail!

Enlightenment ideas helped open people’s minds to a new way of thinking and not to except the ways of the past. 

1. Challenged old ways of thinking.
2. Questioned divine-right of rule.
3. Taught that people should be able to gain material well-being, social justice, and happiness in this life, not just the next.

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence which reflected the ideas of John Locke’s and other Enlightened thinkers. These were:

1. Unalienable or natural rights
2. Government set to protect personal rights.
3. Government gaining power from consent of those it governs.
4. The people had the right to abolish an unjust government.

The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4 1776 stated that:

1. Britain had taken away the American colonists natural rights.
2. The people had the right to abolish an unjust government
3. They had the right to set up a new government that would protect them.

The Impact of Enlightenment Ideas on the Constitution

The writers of our Constitution looked at the ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. 
The founders used the Enlightenment ideas of "social contract" to set up the government, to be governed by the people to preserve their natural rights and for the good of the whole.

[A social contract is an agreement among the members of an organized society or between the governed and the government defining and limiting the rights and duties of each.]

Federal government was separated into three branches which according to Montesquieu would provide checks and balances to govern them.

The Bill of Rights contained the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution recognized that people had basic rights that government must protect. 

It stated the rights of all men to freedom of religion, speech, the press, trial by jury, to hold private property to bear arms [early America relied on citizen militias that were called to arms when needed and were responsible for being equipped to defend -- this was before the existence of a military branch of the government], right to a speedy trial, and etc.

The US Constitution set up a representative government with elected legislature to do the will of the people.

Since our Constitution and the Bill of Rights hold many of the ideas of Enlightenment, it is safe to say that the founding fathers of those documents were influenced by those who thought that way. 

It is also safe to say that without those ideas so prevalent at the time, that the American colonies would still have felt it their duty to do whatever Britain said even though they did not like it. 

Without the age of Enlightenment the Revolution may never have taken place.

Jefferson’s Ideas in the Declaration (Debt to Enlightenment)

         In the second paragraph of the declaration, Jefferson stated his key ideas. He wrote that “all men are created equal.” And they have “unalienable rights.” These rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  He wrote that governments are set up to protect these rights. And that governments get “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In other words, the people run the government. The goal of government should be to guard everyone’s freedom.  These ideas broke from the past.  According to Jefferson, the purpose of government was not to serve the rulers. It was to serve the people and uphold their rights.

Excerpt from the Declaration of

Independence

We hold these truths to be selfevident, 

that all men are created

equal, that they are endowed by their

Creator with certain unalienable

Rights, that among these are Life,

Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

—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, laying its foundation

on such principles and organizing its

powers in such form, as to them shall

seem most likely to effect their Safety

and Happiness. . . .

         Where did Jefferson get these ideas?  Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment. This was a period during the 17th and 18th centuries. Thinkers turned to reason and science to explain the world. They thought that people could improve their lives by learning about the “laws of nature.”  Jefferson did not invent the ideas that he used in the declaration. He said that he had adopted the views of the day. These ideas were, so to speak, “in the air.”  Jefferson knew British history and political thought. He also had read the statements of independence by other colonies. He knew well the writings of fellow Americans like Tom Paine and George Mason.

         In writing the declaration, Jefferson used the format of the English Declaration of Rights. This was written after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which had driven King James II off the throne.

         Jefferson modeled the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence on those of the English writer John Locke. Locke wrote his book Second Treatise of Government in 1689, right after England’s Glorious Revolution. Locke’s book gave reasons why overthrowing a king could be the right thing to do.

         Locke believed that long ago, before there were any governments, people lived in a state of nature. Even in the state of nature, people had rights. Locke wrote that all men are equal. They are born with “unalienable” natural rights. In other words, they have God-given rights that should never be taken away. Among these natural rights, Locke said, are “life, liberty, and property.”

According to Locke, the state of nature could be dangerous. People might kill one another and steal from each other. So people formed governments to protect their natural rights.

         Locke wrote that a contract exists between the government and the people. The government must guard people’s natural rights. In turn, the people must obey the law. But, Locke said, if a government wrongs its people with “a long train of abuses,” the people have the right to resist that government. They can change it or even get rid of it and create a new one.

Locke believed that life itself is a natural right. He said that people have both a right and a duty to save their own lives. Killers, however, lose their right to life since they don’t respect the life of others.

Liberty was another natural right. Locke said that people should be free to decide how to live. But they must not hinder the liberty of others. Locke strongly believed in freedom.  By “property,” another natural right, Locke meant more than owning things. He also meant owning oneself. This included a right to personal well- being. In place of “property,” Jefferson used another phrase from Locke— “pursuit of happiness.” Locke and others had used this phrase to mean the freedom of opportunity and the duty to help those in need.

Jefferson adopted Locke’s ideas. In the declaration, he spoke first about everyone’s natural rights. He then went on to explain why the revolution was necessary in 1776. He next listed how King George had abused the colonists’ rights.