Historical Roots of US Government Activity # GV121 Activity Introduction Hey there, I m (name) Today we re going to look at the roots of US government. You ll see that they run pretty deep. So in order to come up with the best plan for our country, the founding fathers took the best ideas from European philosophers and took a look at English and early American colonial governments. Once they came up with a new plan of government, the founding fathers put those ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Reading Passage 1 Intro- So, where did the Framers of the Constitution get all of those ideas for a new U.S. Government? Well, a lot of the ideas and principles came from what they knew or heard from people they respected. Think of a principle as a general rule about how to act or what to do. In other words it s a guide line or belief. Alright. You re ready to start digging in and find out what the underlying principles and ideas are in U.S. Government.
Reading Passage 1 Outro- Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. So your mind just did about fifty pushups. Video 1 Introduction Now the Founding Fathers of our country didn t just pull some ideas out of the air or come up with them all on their own. They were greatly influenced by other philosophers and codes. Let s see who these guys were and what they were thinking. Video 1- Before the U.S. Constitution, there were many other events and documents that set the stage for how people think about government. These ideas and traditions go back thousands of years. The first of these was the Code of Hammurabi written about 1750 B.C. That s over 3700 years ago. This code or set of laws was a collection of 282 standards of how people needed to live in the Kingdom of Babylonia. Now, remember, Babylonia is located where modern Iraq is today. The laws were designed to protect the weak from the brutal. The Code of Hammurabi is important because the laws were made public. If you couldn t read, you even had the right to ask someone to read them to you. They were carved into stone, literally into a 7 ½ foot stone pillar. The laws were grouped in to categories. It was the rule of law not men, meaning that the same rules applied to everyone all the time. And the code had the idea of retribution that is an eye for any eye. And while there were 282 laws, there was no 13th law, because even then the number 13 was unlucky.
The next set of laws that had a great impact on history was The Ten Commandments and other laws from the Old Testament. These laws are an, are important to the three religions, of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Next on our tour of the history of law is Justinian s Codex. These laws were collected by the Emperor of Rome in 534 A.D., because of the constant threat of invasion by barbarians. Justinian felt that is was important to collect and simplify Roman law to ensure that they survived. They do and the collection becomes the basis for most of the modern laws in Europe today. So we ve got all of these really old laws, but why do they matter? Because they give the philosophers and political thinkers ideas about what makes a good government. Now, let s jump ahead from Justinian in the sixth century all the way to an English fellow, by the name of Thomas Hobbes living and writing in the 17th century. Hobbes was an English philosopher who wrote following the English Civil War that had happened from 1642 to 1649. That civil war saw King Charles the 1st overthrown and beheaded. Not a great time to be king. Now, Hobbes biggest work, written in 1651, was called-and are you ready for this-leviathan, or the matter, form and power of commonwealth, ecclesiastical and civil. Wow. What does that even mean? It means that the most basic need of the people is security and without that, nothing else matters. To get the security, people should enter in to a social contract where the ruler that can guarantee them security from enemies both at home and abroad and for the rulers to be able to do that, he must have absolute authority over his subjects. Now, on the heels of Hobbes, another English philosopher writing was John Locke. His major work was Two Treatises on Government written in 1690. He had a lot of the
same ideas as Hobbes about social contract and the role of government. However, Locke goes further by saying that if the ruler doesn t provide security, the people have the right to replace them. Also, that government and political power are important, so is liberty or the rights of the individual. Now, don t start thinking that the English are the only ones thinking about government and the rights of the people. In 1748, Frenchman Charles de Montesquieu wrote De l esprit des lois or in French, or in English, The Spirit of Laws. He said there were only three forms of government, republics, monarchs and despitisisms. Montersquieu was responsible for the ideas of separating the power of government in to three branches. The executive, legislative and judicial. So we ve got all of this history and how does it come together to shape the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Well, from Hobbes, we get the ideas of social contract between rulers and the people. Think about the preamble of the Constitution, from the very beginning, the idea of government providing security for the people is central. From Locke, we get the idea that when the ruler fails his duties, the people have the right to replace him. He also states that individual liberty is crucial. Plus, he wrote about life, liberty and property. These are all found in the Declaration of Independence. And finally, from Montequieu, we get the separation of government powers and the evils of slavery. So there you have it, the history and the ideas that created two documents that gave us the form of government we have in the United States today
Video 1 Recap It sure sounds like there were a lot of ideas that influenced the ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Babylonian emperor, Hammurabi, and the Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian Ithe first, each organized laws into codes for their societies. Hammurabi s are also found in the Bible. The philosophers wrote down some ideas that influenced the development of American government. The two English guys, Hobbes and Locke, believed in the social contract theory. Hobbes influenced the Constitution. Locke, the Declaration of Independence. To keep that straight... Think of Locke, life, liberty, property. That s a lot of l-words right in a row. Plus, the liberty part reminds you it s about freedom and the Declaration was about freedom from England. The French guy, Montesquieu, talked about separation of powers and government classification. Check out the details one more time, before movin on. Video 2 - Introduction So you probably know American colonists originated in England. Plus, America was first ruled by England when it was a colony. So, it s not surprising that lots of the ideas that influenced our Founding Fathers came from England.
Oh yeah, when we talk about England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, the U.K., or the British, we re pretty much talking about the same place or folks. Let s find out more about what those British documents and ideas were and how they influenced our government. Video 2 Now we've learned about how ideas from around the world came together to shape the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and while these are all important, the greatest impact comes from England. Think about it. Most of the people shaping the ideas that create the U.S. are either born in England or just one generation away from the mother country, and they still live in English law and government. How could it not impact them? They not only lived under these laws, they knew the history. So what were these English traditions of government? Well, the first of these is the concept of English common law. This is the practice of making the laws because of things that have happened. Some event occurs, the court makes a decision, and this becomes common law. Common law is not created by people debating and voting on laws, it's created based on the idea of precedent. The English colonist in America brought with them a number of ideas about government. They understood that government was a necessary part of life. The basic concept of government officials maintaining order with people like sheriffs, bailiffs, coroners, justices of the peace and grand juries all began in England. So did the use of political
units, ideas of having counties and townships. Those are English ideas. The colonist understood that the government should be part of life, but not all-powerful in life, and that even the king should have limits. Rulers should not violate the basic rights of citizens, that the government has the responsibility to respond to the will of the people, and that the people should be allowed to elect representatives to speak on their behalf. Not surprising, a lot of the practices in the English system and traditions make their way into the U.S. Constitution, and not only common law, but three major English documents are going to impact the government we have today. Now the oldest of these is the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter written in 1215, which was imposed on King John, and yes, that is King John from Robin Hood, by a group of barons that were tired of the king acting only in his interest and abusing his subjects. Many of the concepts found in the Magna Carta are also found in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The rights of due process are established, meaning that life, liberty and property could not be denied without following a set of laws and customs. Subjects could not be denied these basic rights on the whim of the king. The Charter also limited the powers of King John and made future kings subject to the law as well, so that they would not become tyrants. In fact, the colonist were so used to these ideas, they used them to justify their actions in declaring independence, saying that King George III had become a tyrant.
Another important document from English history is the Petition of Right. This is a statement of objectives of the 1628 English legal reform that led to the Civil War and the deposing of Charles I in 1649. It expresses many of the ideals that later led to the American Revolution. Again, it states that the king is subject to the law. It repudiates, or denies, that kings are chosen by God, and there are four specific ideas that are found in the Petition of Rights that the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution share together. First is there should be no arbitrary imprisonment. This is called habeas corpus. It comes from the Latin phrase meaning give us the body, but what it means legally is that a person needs to know why they are being arrested when they are charged with a crime, and why they are being held. Second is the idea that there should be no martial law during peacetime. Martial law is using the military to act in place of the civilian government, and means that civil liberties and civil rights are suspended. Next, one of the most famous phrases in the American Revolution, no taxation without representation. And finally, the government is not allowed to house soldiers in private homes in peacetime without consent of the owner. The last document we look at is the English Bill of Rights from 1689 establishing William III and Mary of Orange as joint monarchs in England. It's like the Petition of Rights and it reflects in the Constitution as well. Important points include that there should be no standing army during peacetime. The monarch could only have money granted by Parliament. There should be no excessive bail, no cruel and unusual punishment, and while not a law in the U.S., no Catholic could ever rule over England.
So it's not hard to see how the experience of English law, tradition and history will give the colonist an example of what ordered, limited and representative government ought to look like. Video 2 Recap The British influenced our American government, with English Common Law and their ideas about how to set up an ordered, limited, and representative government. British documents like the Magna Carta, Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights provided some great examples of limits on power and rights of citizens that we used as well. So, Britain s ideas and documents had a huge influence on our Founding Fathers political thoughts., in In turn, they showed up in our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Reading Passage 2 Intro- So our Founding Fathers relied on the ideas from philosophers, codes, and documents established by previous governments, particularly England, when they organized the newly independent government of the United States. But, they were also influenced by earlier documents developed in the U.S. as a basis for some of the biggees like the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. Let s find out some more about those fundamental documents.
Just so you know, a fundamental is the root, or the original part or foundation for something. Ok. Now let s get on with it. Reading Passage 2 Outro- Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. So your mind just did about fifty pushups. What the Class Thinks- And now, let s check in with What the Class Thinks. Student 1 I gotta ask you again, Mr. Martinez, which of the influences on U.S. Government do we need to remember exactly? Teacher Well, you should remember the English guys Hobbes and Locke, plus the French guy Montesquieu. Oh. And don t forget the emperors Justinian and Hammurabi. They all influenced ideas in our government. Student 2
Don t forget about all those documents too. Like all the English documents with bills of rights, plus the state constitutions and their declarations of rights. Student 2 But, I m thinking the most important thing to keep in mind is that all those ideas influenced some of the biggest in U.S. government like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Teacher Yes, that s a good point. Some of the key ideas were rights of the citizens like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and freedoms like freedom of the press, jury, and limits on powers of the government. That s the big picture. Student 1 Really it affects everything we are allowed to do today. Practice whatever religion we want, have free press, trial by jury. AND no tyranny by a king. I guess we ve got it pretty good these days. General Activity Exit- Well, that s all for now Good work, and I ll see you later!