Download - Enlight constit
Enlightenment & Constitution
11th grade
Lesson Objective
Students will identify 3 Enlightenment thinkers and their ideas that directly influenced the
drafting of the Constitution, and present the 3 ideas in the form of a constitutional recipe.
What was the Enlightenment?When: 1620 – 1780
Where: Western Europe
What: intellectual, artistic, social, and
philosophical movements
Why: Europe coming out of the Middle Ages,
when religion dominated society.
What's the big deal?
The Enlightenment was a time of :•Reason•Science•Art
•Individualism•Challenging Authority
John Locke• Governments and Citizens have Social Contract,
consent to be governed.• Governments only job is to protect “Natural
Rights”
Life, Liberty, Property
• Citizens obligation to challenge and overthrow government not protecting natural rights
Montesquieu
• Rule of Law
• Separation of Powers
Separation of Powers
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e1cN5KuB5s0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Voltaire
Freedom of Religion
Separation of Church and State
Rousseau• Mans natural state is free
• Promoted individual freedom/rights and equality
• Social Contract – consent to be governed means balancing freedoms with security
Hobbes
• Life without government :“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” - Leviathan
• Man needs strong government to control people
• People consent to governments to maintain security
• Best Government? Absolute Monarchy
US Constitution
• Drafted: September 17, 1787
• Ratified: June 21, 1788
• Purpose: To establish the government of the United States of America, and lay out basic rights of its citizens.
Constitution“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Constitution
• Bill of Rights• 3 Branches of Government– Legislative – create the laws– Executive – enforce the laws– Judicial – judge the laws
• Checks & Balances
Bill of Rights• First 10 Amendments to Constitution• Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly• Right to bear arms• No unreasonable searches and seizures• Right to due process of law• Right to quick, public trial• Right to trial by jury• Freedom from excessive/cruel punishment