1 the founding of the united states the colonial experience roots of american government moving...

24
1 The Founding of the United States The Colonial Experience Roots of American Government Moving Toward Nationhood

Upload: kathleen-thornton

Post on 28-Dec-2015

217 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

1

The Founding of the United States The Colonial Experience Roots of American Government Moving Toward Nationhood

2

The Colonial Experience – Vocab. Heritage: traditions passed down from

generation to generation Legislature: a group of people elected to make

laws Charter: a document giving permission to a

group of people to start a government Tyranny: abuse of power

3

A Voice in Government Citizens of the colonies (called

colonists) had a limited voice in government

Each colony could elect its own legislature

However, England had final authority over the colonies

English Governors (chosen by King George) could reject laws passed the colonial legislatures

4

Citizenship in the Colonies Only white men who owned

land were considered full citizens Only these people were

allowed to vote Citizens in those days were

expected to participate in government and promote the common good of society

5

Roots of Freedom – Religious Freedom Roger Williams founded The Colony of Rhode

Island in 1636. He proclaimed Rhode Island to be a place where

anybody could worship any religion they wanted. Soon other colonies followed his example in

allowing of “religious freedom” However to many of the colonists religious

freedom meant any kind of Christianity was acceptable, not other religions.

6

Roots of Freedom – Freedom of the Press Freedom of the Press – the right of newspapers to

print the truth, even if it makes the government look bad – did not exist

Zenger Case – early court trial won by colonist John Peter Zenger against the English Governor of New York. Zenger had printed an article accusing the governor of tyranny.

The Zenger case inspired colonists to want freedom of the press

7

Roots of American Government Direct Democracy: a government where laws are

made directly by the people Republic: A government where people elect people

to make laws for them Natural Rights: Rights that no government should be

able to take away (life, liberty, property/pursuit of happiness)

Separation of Powers: Government power is divided into 3 branches (executive, legislative, judicial) so no branch become too powerful

8

Roots of American Government Each of the following contributed something to the

ideas our founding fathers used in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution!

1. Ancient Greece2. Ancient Rome3. Magna Carta4. English Bill of Rights5. John Locke & Montesquieu

9

Looking to Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece Invented democracy – the idea that people should be able to control their government

Direct Democracy was the kind of democracy that was used in Ancient Greece

10

Looking to Ancient Rome The Romans decided that

direct democracy wouldn’t work when a country was too big

They invented the republic – a government where people are elected to make laws for society

11

The English Tradition Originally the King ruled all. Over time the Magna Carta

and the English Bill of Rights took power away from the King and gave it to the English people

12

Magna Carta First time King’s power

was limited. This document limited

the King’s Power and gave some rights to the nobles (rich people)

Rights included the right to travel freely and the right to a fair trial

13

English Bill of Rights This document extended the

rights in the Magna Carta to ALL English citizens (not just nobles)

It also added some more rights: The King could no longer stop free speech in parliament and parliament had to approve of all tax increases.

Parliament is England’s legislature. Our legislature is called CONGRESS

14

John Locke and Montesquieu The colonial leaders looked to great

philosophers to help them decided what kind of government they should make

John Locke provided the theory of natural rights.

Montesquieu provided the theory of the separation of powers.

15

Quick Quiz1. What are natural rights?

2. What is the Separation of Powers?

3. What was the English Bill of Rights?

4. What was the Magna Carta?

5. Who is John Locke and what theory did he propose?

6. Who was Montesquieu and what theory did he propose?

16

Moving Toward NationhoodVocabulary Constitution: A plan for government. The

rules for how a government works. Ratification: Agreement to something or

approval of something

17

England vs. The Colonies Many colonists started to become more and

more frustrated with their treatment under English rule Unfairly imposed and high taxes Unreasonable searches in homes England only let the colonies trade with England Not full freedom of the press and speech

18

No Taxation without Representation Parliament (The English legislature) had to

pay off war debt and raised trade taxes on the colonies.

Colonists were furious: Why should they be taxed by a parliament in

which they had no representation? “No taxation without representation” became a

battle cry for independence.

19

Declaration of Independence

In the Second Continental Congress (gathering of representatives from all colonies) the representatives voted for independence.

Some colonists were afraid of independence

The representatives wrote the declaration to explain to ALL why the United States should be free!

20

Organizing a New Government The Colonies became the

States. Each State had their own State

Constitution The Country needed a

constitution for the national government

In 1777 the Continental Congress (the temporary national government) created the Articles of Confederation

21

Articles of Confederation The U.S.’s first National Constitution Only created one branch of government (legislative) Created a very weak national government

The government couldn’t settle disputes (problems) between the states

The government had no taxing authority over the states The government had no ability to make treaties or deal

with foreign countries in a unified voice

22

The Constitution of the U.S. Because the Articles of Confederation… were too

weak for the national gov. to function many leaders came together to make a new constitution.

They called it… The Constitution of the United States of America

It called for three branches each containing its own powers with ways to balance the powers of the other two branches and a bill of rights protect citizens from specific government tyranny!

23

Constitution of the United States

24

Quick Quiz1. What was the Declaration of Independence?2. What was the Articles of Confederation?3. Why was it weak?4. What were some reasons the colonists were

frustrated?5. What are the three branches of government and what

does each one do?6. What does our constitution have to protect citizens

from government tyranny?