philosophers contributions to us govt 20111

8/4/2019 Philosophers Contributions to Us Govt 20111

1/3

Philosophers Contributions to the US Government

Social Contract: Laws exist to protect people and their rights; Government is for the people, by the

people; Anarchy is not to be tolerated; People should have the right to revolt against unfair governments

Declaration of Independence: Equality (All men are created equal); Life; Liberty (Freedom); Pursuit of

Happiness (Property); Majority rules, minority has rights (equal protection)

Separation of Powers: 3 Branches; Executive branch/power; Legislative branch/power; Judicial

branch/power

Bill of Rights: Freedom of Speech; Freedom of Religion; Freedom of the Press; Right to Fair Trial (innocent

until proven guilty); Right to Bear Arms; Right to have a Militia

Directions: Read the quotes by the various philosophers below. Determine which of the above

contributions each is discussing in each quote and write it in the blank provided. Once you have done

this for all quotes, look at your answers and write which portion of the US government eachphilosopher appears to have influenced most heavily.

Thomas Jefferson: most influenced _________________________________________________

______________________ All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the

majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess

their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

______________________ Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform

the office of a Censor - over each other.

______________________ Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people

alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

______________________ It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.

______________________ It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without

the forms of law than that he should escape.

______________________ Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right

themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

______________________ No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.

______________________ No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no

one ever will.

______________________ The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.


2/3


James Madison: most influenced _________________________________________________

______________________ A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.

______________________ A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in

arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

______________________ Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens

of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

______________________ As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to

exercise it, different opinions will be formed.

______________________ The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them

that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is

derived.

Baron de Montesquieu: most influenced _________________________________________________

______________________ Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.

______________________ When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers are united in the

same person... there can be no liberty.

______________________ In despotic states a single person directs everything by his own will andcaprice.

______________________ Constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to

abuse it ... it is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.

______________________ When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or

in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the

same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.

John Locke: most influenced _________________________________________________

______________________ All mankind being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm

another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.

______________________ The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge

freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no

freedom.


3/3


______________________ Man... hath by nature a power .... to preserve his property - that is, his life,

liberty, and estate - against the injuries and attempts of other men.

______________________ Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant

obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, andmorally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or

primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part

with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which

we can preserve no other.

______________________ Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by,

common to every one of that society and made by the legislative power vested in it and not to be

subject to the inconstant, uncertain, arbitrary will of another man.

Voltaire: most influenced _________________________________________________

______________________ It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

______________________ I do not agree with what you have to say, but Ill defend to the death your

right to say it.

______________________ Injustice in the end produces independence.

______________________ Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that all may

share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.

______________________ Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

Jean Jacques Rousseau: most influenced _________________________________________________

______________________ Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.

______________________ Force does not constitute right obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

______________________ It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized

and united for specific action, and a minority can.

______________________ Never exceed your rights, and they will soon become unlimited.

______________________ The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect

with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting

himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before.

philosophers contributions to us govt 20111

Documents