WHAT IS GOVERNMENT?

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT?

 Help a society function
 “The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live
in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the
governed, not for the governors.” - Jefferson
 The main purpose of the Government is to govern, manage and protect
the individual rights for its citizens. It ensures the proper use of force by
specifying laws.

• Roman Empire
– Provided stability for Western Europe
– Collapsed in 476 A.D.
– Left chaos and no form of government
– Previously tribal people
– Includes entire Mediterranean basin: Iraq, Iran, turkey, Spain, up oto
England
• Roman Empire
– Western Europe
– Some form of government was necessary
– Monarchy became the common form of government
– Provided varying degrees of stability but led to other problems.
– Anarchy does not last. Someone WILL set up power.
– Gov. expands until it is beat back, expands again = cycle

• Western European Monarchy Developed During the Middle Ages

• “Divine Right” of Kings
– Kings were “appointed” by God
– God can’t make bad choices
– Kings were answerable only to God
– Therefore, kings can’t be wrong
– It was sinful to resist the king’s authority
o Prima Nocta: the king had absolute power including right to a man’s
bride on their wedding night
o People paid taxes to an established church
o The church of England was still considered “too Catholic” ex:
Communion in Catholic church, the wine IS blood and bread IS body
o The separatist were imprisoned in jails where food, provisions,
clothing were not given
• Absolute authority (Rule of Man)

• Magna Carta – 1215

– King John had abused his power and angered nobles.
 – Led to revolt by nobles who forced the king to sign the Magna Carta
recognizing some rights for nobles (peasants still had few or no
rights).
• CONCEPT: No person is above the law.
– Considered to be the beginning of constitutional government in
England because the power of the king could be limited.
– Ultimately led to Parliamentary system that further eroded the king’s
authority over time.

• English Reformation
– King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547)– wanted divorce from Catherine of
Aragon to marry Ann Boleyn
– Pope (head of the Church) – denied divorce
– Henry VIII broke the Church of England from the Roman Catholic
Church.
– Named himself head of the Church of England.
– “Established” the Church of England.

• Dissatisfaction with Church of England

– By the late 1500’s several groups had become disenchanted and
formed illegal churches.
– “Puritans” wanted to purify the Church of England which was still “too
Catholic”.
– “Separatists” or “Pilgrims” wanted to separate themselves from the
Church (apostasy).
– After years of persecution, groups left England and ended up in
America.

• Settlements in the New World

– 1607 – Jamestown – basically a commercial enterprise
– 1620 – Plymouth founded by Separatist group known as “Pilgrims”
– 1630-1640 – “Great Migration” – 20,000 Puritans emigrated to New
England
• Puritans
– Mayflower Compact – First example of democratic government in the
New World
– Puritans did not come to New England to practice religious freedom,
but to practice “their religion.”
– Were convinced that theirs was the only true religion
– Held little regard for the beliefs of others
– Those who did not follow Puritan teachings were banished (i.e Roger
Williams: moved to RI, Anne Hutchinson: led Bible meetings in her
home; people were “rode out of town on a rail”)
• Age of Enlightenment
– Not a pure school of thought. More a set of values based on critical
questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals.
– Late 1600’s through early 1800’s (or so)
– Reason was considered the primary method to gain knowledge and
understanding.
– Knowledge and understanding led to legitimacy for authority
• Age of Enlightenment
• Impacted moral, social, and political spheres
– Freedom for common people based on self-governance, natural rights,
natural law
– Emphasized liberty, individual rights, and reason to solve questions.
– Revolutionary departure from monarchy, theocracy, aristocracy,
oligarchy, and the divine right of kings.
– End of the Middle Ages’ religious authority, guild-based economic
systems, and censorship of ideas
– Beginning of “Modern Age” with its ideas of rational discourse and
personal judgment, republicanism, and liberalism

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Leviathan
– Social Contract Theory
– “State of Nature” or life without government
• Each person has a right to everything in the world
• Leads to conflict, a "war of all against all“
• Lives are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"
• Thomas Hobbes
• Social Contract
– To escape the state of nature
– People agree to a social contract and establish a civil society
– Society is a population subservient to a sovereign to whom all
individuals in that society cede their natural rights for the sake of
protection
– No separation of powers. Sovereign controls all powers
– Abuses of power are accepted as the price of peace
– In severe cases of abuse, rebellion is expected

• John Locke (1632-1704)

Two Treatises of Government
– Social Contract Theory
– Much of his work was put into the Declaration of Independence
– Human Nature is characterized by reason and tolerance but human
nature allows men to be selfish
• John Locke
– In a natural state, all people are equal and independent, and everyone
had a natural right to defend his “life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
 – Right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people
established a civil society to resolve conflicts with help from
government
– Advocated separation of powers and believed that revolution is not
only a right but a duty in some circumstances

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

The Social Contract
– State of nature: a primitive condition without law or morality, which
human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation
– Division of labor and private property required humans to adopt
institutions of law.
– Man is in competition with other men but also increasingly dependent
on them.
– This double pressure threatens survival and freedom.
– Rousseau
– Individuals join in civil society through the social contract and
abandon their claims of natural rights in order to preserve themselves
and remain free.
– Submission to authority of the general will guarantees individuals
against being subordinated to the wills of others and ensures that
they obey because they are, collectively, the authors of the law.
– Sovereignty, or the power to make the laws, belongs with the
people
• Rousseau
– Distinction between the sovereign and the government.
• Government is composed of magistrates, charged with
implementing and enforcing the law
• “Sovereign" is the rule of law, ideally decided on by direct
democracy in an assembly.
– Even under a monarchy, the real sovereign is still the law (i.e. the
people).
– Therefore, when the government violates the rights of the people, the
people have a right to change the government
• Oh, by the way,
“The noblest work in education is to make a reasoning man, and we expect to
train a young child by making him reason! This beginning at the end; this is
making an instrument of a result. If children understood how to reason, they
would not need to be educated.” – Rousseau, Emile.

Other Enlightenment Figures

• Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) - Statesman, scientist, political
philosopher. As a philosopher known for his writings on nationality,
economic matters. Favored American Independence. Involved with writing
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. One of the most
intelligent men at that time. (story of James Madison spotting Franklin
 running naked leaving a married woman’s house on his morning
constitution; Sent to France & played up American’s backwardness by
swimming in the Thames River)
• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) - Statesman, political philosopher. As a
philosopher best known for the Declaration Independence and his
interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Argued for natural rights as the basis
of all states, argued that violation of these rights negates the contract which
bind a people to their rulers and that therefore there is an inherent "Right to
Revolution.”
• James Madison (1751-1836) - Statesman and political philosopher. Played a
key role in the writing of the Constitution and providing a theoretical
justification for it in The Federalist Papers.
• Thomas Paine (1737–1809) – Pamphleteer and polemicist. Most famous for
Common Sense attacking England's domination of the colonies in America.
The pamphlet was key in fomenting the American Revolution. Said it makes
“no sense for an Island (England) to govern a nation”
• Adam Smith (1723–1790) - Economist and philosopher. Wrote The Wealth
of Nations arguing that wealth was not money in itself, but wealth rather was
derived from the added value in manufactured items produced by both
invested capital and labor. Considered to be the founding father of the
laissez faire economic theory.
Wrote Theory of Moral Sentiments explaining how humans function and
interact

Review
• Purpose for government?
• Fall of Rome
• Rise of feudalism and divine right of kings
• Loss of monarchical power
• Church of England splits from Catholic Church
• Dissatisfaction with Church of England
• Enlightenment

English Colonial History

• Period of Salutary Neglect
– Colonies were free to function with minimal interference from Britain
– Developed economies and colonial governments
– Colonies became comfortable running their own affairs
• French and Indian War (1754 - 1763) followed by Pontiac’s Rebellion
(1763)
– Left Britain nearly without funds
– Britain needed peace and revenue
– Looked to the colonies to provide for these needs
Acts & Laws
• Proclamation of 1763 - It forbade settlement on Indian Territory, ordered
those settlers already there to withdraw, and strictly limited future
settlement. Prohibiting issuance of patents to any lands claimed by a tribe
unless the Indian title had first been extinguished by purchase or treaty.
• Navigation Acts of 1772, 1651, 16663, etc. did not allow colonist to other side
of Ohio River valley where there was fertile land did not allow for spread of
Europe
• Quartering Act – no privacy
• Stamp Act – on many documents, taxes & revenue for a hurting England
• Sugar Act
• Currency Act
• Townshend Acts
• Tea Act
• Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

English Colonial History Continued

• Led to dissatisfaction among colonists
• Sons of Liberty
• “Taxation without Representation”
• Committees of Correspondence
• Boston Tea Party
• Battles of Lexington and Concord April 9, 1775
• Declaration of Independence
• Revere yelled “Regulars are coming. The redcoats are coming.”

Declaration of Independence
• “We hold these truths to be self-evident,
– 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.

Articles of Confederation
• First government of the United States
• Weak central government
• States retained most authority
• Not very workable or efficient
• John Hansen was the 1st President according to Articles
 • Division of Powers

Why did the States retain the bulk of the authority under the Articles of
Confederation?
– The people did not want to return a strong, centralized Gov. as in
Britain.
– Fear of Strong Central Government
– The Articles made the national Congress weak on purpose. Having just
won independence from Britain, many Americans feared that creating
a strong federal government with too much authority over the states
would only replace King George III with another tyrant. Instead, they
envisioned Congress to be a supervisory body that would tie the
states loosely for the common good. The early United States was thus
a confederation of nearly independent states, not the solid federation
with a strong government that it is today. The states were in many
ways like individual countries bound together to keep Britain at bay.
– Americans were especially afraid of federal taxes. Remembering the
“No taxation without representation!” cry from the Colonial era, they
stipulated that only the individual states could levy taxes. This system
proved to be a completely ineffective way of bankrolling a federal
government, and in fact, many of the states refused to pay their fair
share. Most years, in fact, the Congress received less than a third of
what it asked for from the states. Moreover, Congress had been
granted no rights to control interstate commerce. States were thus
given a free hand to draft conflicting and confusing laws that made
cross-border trade difficult.
– The money became the standard U.S. currency during the war, but
when hard times hit and inflation skyrocketed, these Continental
dollars became worthless. Many Americans, especially soldiers, small
business owners, and farmers, were hit hard. Congress requested that
the states increase taxes to help pay for a new national currency, but
most states refused and instead printed their own paper money. This,
too, succumbed to inflation, and by the end of the war, Americans had
fistfuls of worthless money.
– Western land disputes

• History of Colonies
– Different geography and climate led to variations in culture. (North
could not grow stuff & did not need slaves.)
– Colonies COMPETED amongst each other.
– States (colonies) became accustomed to governing themselves
– Just as they were attempting to gain independence from Britain, they
were not anxious to become subordinate to another central
government
 • Constitutional Convention 1787
• Delegates met in Philadelphia tasked with developing and proposing
amendments to the already existing Articles of Confederation.
• Instead drafted an entirely new document.
• The Articles of Confederation provided a framework for government that left
the vast majority of the political power with the states.
• People feared a strong central government and several states were hesitant
in adopting the proposed Constitution.

Federalist Papers (not law, but a framework or series of arguments for

ratification of Constitution)
• Arguments in favor of ratification
– John Jay
– James Madison
– Alexander Hamilton
• As you read these opinions, remember that they are NOT CODIFIED. They
are not part of the law. They are merely an argument for the ratification of
the Constitution.

Constitution
• Ratified 1789
• An attempt to provide for balanced power
– History of government usurping authority (Britain)
– History of states holding too much authority and making central
government unworkable.
• Bill of Rights 1791

God gives unalienable rights to men, and the government is set up to protect those
rights.