Origins of the US Government_Simon

Thomas Hobbes

1651

Hobbes came up with a few ideas for our government. One of these was natural rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Hobbes also preached equality of all men. Our founding fathers did disagree with his idea of a lack of government.

John Locke

1689

Locke believed that people had a right to speak up against the government. If the government puts too much restraint on the people, they can protest. It’s a sign that while the government should have power, it should be limited. This can be seen in our government via the separation of powers and term limits.

Baron de Montesquieu

1748

The executive branch houses the leaders, the legislative branch creates and passes laws, and the judicial branch is the court, judging, etc.

William Blackstone

1765

According to Blackstone, a country’s laws are supposed to protect the freedom of the press. “Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public: to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press: but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity.” Without freedom of the press, the government would be too restrictive.

The Declaration

1776

We basically REALLY hated the way England was running things, so we decided to form a new government driven by the people.

Articles of Confederation

1781

The Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches were added and more power was given to them.

James Madison

1788

James Madison wrote the Federalist Papers. These basically explained his thoughts on the current ways of the government. He didn’t really like factions. He thought that factions were less diverse than a unified government. The constitution could unify society, and simplify everything into one big faction.

Constitution

1788

I personally think that the removal of Section 2. The 13th Amendment removed slavery and the 14th Amendment allowed everyone to vote. Those are both really important changes that were kind of necessary in later years.

George Washington

1789

The first precedent was appointing judges to fill the Judicial branch. The second precedent was for ceremonial purposes like holidays. The third precedent was for foreign policies and relations. The fourth precedent was the fact that the president chose his cabinet. The fifth precedent was the president leading the military. The sixth precedent was that the president should never be referred to as a monarch. The seventh and final precedent was that the president cannot lead forever.

The Bill of Rights

1791

I think that the most important part of the 1st Amendment is the freedom of speech. If we didn’t have it, we wouldn’t be able to voice our opinions on certain topics.

Thomas Jefferson

1801

Thomas Jefferson helped found the Democratic-Republic Party. He opposed the Federalists as he thought democracy was better. Jefferson believed that most of the power should be given to the people and that they should follow the Constitution. A core belief shared between both parties was a strong central government.