Influences on the Founding of the United States of America

Influences on the Founding of the United States of America

POL/115 Version 2

Documents

Summary of Document

What was this document’s significance or influence on the values of the American political culture or the ideas for the structure and organization of the U.S. Federal Government?

Magna Carta

The Magna Carta is a water stained parchment the King Edward affirmed of 1215 it was the first document to challenge the authority of the king, subjecting him to the rule of the law and protecting his people from feudal abuse.

American revolutionaries incorporated many of the Magna Carta's basic ideas into another important piece of parchment – the U.S. Constitution. It influenced how the Constitution should be written.

Mayflower Compact

The Mayflower Compact signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States.

The Mayflower Compact was the first agreement for self-government to be created and enforced in America. On September 16, 1620 the Mayflower, a British ship, with 102 passengers, who called themselves Pilgrims, aboard sailed from Plymouth, England. They were bound for the New World

Declaration of Independence

Congress asked Thomas Jefferson and others to write a declaration of independence. They needed a document to declare why the colonies had to become independent of Britain. In this document, Jefferson wrote what many Americans believed about their rights. Jefferson wrote that people have the right to live, the right to be free, and the right to seek happiness. The Declaration explains why the colonies should break away from Britain. It says that people have rights that cannot be taken away, lists the complaints against the king, and argues that the colonies have to be free to protect the colonists’ rights. At the bottom of the document, the delegates signed their names

Jefferson wrote that if a government does not protect

the rights of citizens, people have the right to form a new

government. This idea was not new. Jefferson used ideas that John Locke and other English thinkers had written about.

Jefferson listed many ways that Britain had not served the colonists. He wrote, for example, that King George had tried to take away rights and force taxes on the colonies. Jefferson showed that the colonists had a right to separate from the king and have their own government

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation introduced thirteen different articles that granted powers to the states and to the federal government. ... Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated.

The Virginia Plan

The Virginia plan was a plan proposed by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. The plan was drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

The Virginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. The document is important for its role in setting the stage for the convention and, in particular, for creating the idea of representation according to population.

The New Jersey Plan

The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787.

The New Jersey Plan was presented at the constitutional convention by William Paterson. This proposal was made with the article of confederation. It proposed for the amendments of the articles of confederation. Under this plan, congress gets the right to collect taxes, elect federal executives. This plan offers to make new states as necessary. It also offers a state to prosecute a citizen who has committed any crime in other state.

The Connecticut Plan

The Connecticut Compromise (also known as the Great Compromise of 1787 or The Sherman Compromise) was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States 

Connecticut Compromise. a compromise adopted at the Constitutional Convention, providing the states with equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives

The U.S. Constitution

America’s first constitution, the Article of Confederation, was ratified in 1781, a time when the nation was a loose confederation of states, each operating like independent countries. The national government was comprised of a single legislature, the Congress of the Confederation; there was no president or judicial branch. The Articles of Confederation gave Congress the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war and regulate currency; however, in reality these powers were sharply limited because Congress had no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops.

The Bill of Rights

Philosophers

Who was this?

How did each philosopher’s writings and ideas influence the Founders when developing the ideas and values of the American political culture and the nature and structure of the U.S. system of government?

Thomas Hobbes

John Locke

Montesquieu

Selected Founders

Who was this?

What role did this Founder play in the establishment of the United States of America and its system of government?

Benjamin Franklin

Alexander Hamilton

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

John Adams

Political Factions

What were each of these factions?

What were each factions ideas on the power and scope of the U.S. Federal government?

Federalists

Anti-Federalists

Concepts

How is this concept manifest in the organization of the U.S. federal government?

Why is this concept important in a representative democracy?

Separation of Powers

Checks and Balances