Revolutionary Ideas

• The French and Indian War helped establish a sense of unity amongst the colonies

• This was only strengthened when Great Britain tried to suddenly change their trading relationship with the colonies

Revolutionary Ideas

• By the end of the Seven Years War, the political atmosphere of individual liberty and democracy had developed in the colonies.

• These colonists had just recently left their former countries to escape political oppression, religious intolerance and economic inequality that resulted from an aristocratic society in Europe.

Revolutionary Ideas

Out in the wilderness of the America’s, colonists developed:– An ability to create their own political system– An egalitarian (equal) and democratic spirit– The idea that all people have the right to create their

own destiny.

Revolutionary Ideas

• These new American societies – Rejected: their former monarchies and aristocracies (rule of

the wealthy) and– Accepted and Embraced: Democracy and “Republicanism”

• These ideas were created from religious and political movements known as the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment

The Great Awakening • An evangelical religious

movement that swept Protestant churches of the American colonies during the early 18th century.

• Emphasized: – Active and emotional

worship style– The importance of the

individual and their relationship with God

George Whitefield

The Great Awakening

Protestant religious doctrine also shifted away from strict Calvinist principles like “predestination” to embrace the concept of individual redemption and salvation for all sinners.

The Great Awakening

• Dynamic LeadersJonathan Edwards

New England minister, gave sermon ”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

George Whitefield English preacher, very charismatic speaker, actor by trade

• The Great Awakening, became one of the most formative events in American history. George Whitefield’s last sermon his country tour was given at Boston Commons before 23,000 people, likely the largest gathering in American history to that point.

The Great Awakening

Worship and salvation became an intensely personal and emotional experience that was to be openly celebrated.

People began to study the bible at home and tended to rely less on the established clergy for biblical education.

Began to break down barriers of economic and political class by making religion accessible to everyone

The Enlightenment

Most European societies had been based on the ideas of divine-right monarchies coupled with a strict feudalistic class system.– This system went largely unchallenged because to question it

was to rebel against God.

As a result Monarchs had no reason to respect or be concerned about individual rights.

Enlightenment

• However, with the advent of the Great Awakening and the beginning of the Enlightenment, many political philosophers began to question their role in society.

• They began to look directly at the purpose of government and the rights of the common man. Their ideas shattered common thought and pushed society into the Modern Era.

The Enlightenment

Ex. – Political philosophers like John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques Rousseau helped to redefine the purpose of government and radically changed the way the world viewed the rights of the common man.

Hobbes Rousseau Locke

Enlightenment

No philosopher had more influence on the emergence of the American colonies than John Locke.

- (John Locke’s book) “Second Treatise of Government”

Desert Island• Scenario: Imagine that you are shipwrecked

on a foreign island with 5 other people. They could be strangers or people you know, but you all have the same problem: there is no way to leave this island. Therefore, you must decide rules that will guide and protect the rights and freedoms the people on the island. All of you must agree to the same rules!

As a group…

• First, discuss what might happen if all of you decide to live together with no rules.– Consider: what might the stronger persons do?

Who are the stronger persons? Who would become a criminal? Who would protect others?

• Secondly, lets say that you agree to make a list of rights/rules that everyone should have. Create a list of at least 5 items that everyone agrees to follow

As a group…

• Finally, consider what your rules or laws tell you about how your group feels the nature of people? Then identify what rights or privileges your group explicitly (out loud) or implicitly (implied) protected as part of those rules.

2) Locke shattered the theories that supported divine-right monarchy by arguing that government was not a natural institution created by God, but was established by man to create the organized rule of law.

State of Nature

State of Nature

3) Locke believed that God established several natural conditions that fundamentally related to the rights of mankind. He argued that all human beings were born free and equal into a “State of Nature” where no government exists and everyman is his own ruler.

Locke’s Solution – Social Contract

Natural Rights: To Locke, all humans had three natural rights.

LIFE LIBERTY and… PROPERTY

State of Nature

4) However, in the absence of government Locke believed that there was still the “Law of Nature” to govern man’s behavior. This was believed to be a moral law that was instilled by God (The Law of Inherent Self Restraint).

Locke’s Argument1.All humans are born into a “State of Nature” where no

government exists and everyone man is his own ruler. 2.However in this natural state, there are still moral laws that

are instilled by God.3.Therefore government is not created by God but rather

created by man to ensure stability.4.But in order to protect these rights there needs to be a

government to ensure their protection.

Locke’s Solution – Social Contract

Locke’s central theory rested in the idea that a ruling government should have “A Social Contract”.

You get = A government that executes laws to protect natural rights, private property, impartial judges, and the just execution of the laws.

You give = You give up the sovereign right to rule yourself to the new government.

Locke and the Social Contract

Two stages of the contract:

Individual Majority of the Community Government

Stage 1 = Individuals “Irrevocably” (unchangeable) transfer sovereign authority to the majority to form a government

Locke and the Social Contract

Stage 2 = Majority makes a “Revocable” (changeable) transfer of authority to a government

Locke and the Social Contract

The social contract ensures that all power that is given to the government is derived from the consent of the people.

Locke and Revolts

If the entrusted government becomes corrupt and violates the people’s natural rights, the majority has the right / duty to overthrow that government.

Locke and Revolts

Locke argued that the majority would always be right because humans posses the ability to “reason.”

Locke and Revolts

This philosophy radically challenged the rule of sitting monarchs and advocated the establishment of republican styles of government.

John Locke in a Nutshell…

• 1. “Men have rights by their nature…. We give up the right to exact ourselves for crimes in return for justice backed by an overwhelming force. We retain the right to life and liberty, and gain the right to just, impartial protection of our property”

Locke in a Nutshell…

2. Government is not created by God but by man to restore order.

3. Therefore we need a Social Contract

Stage 1 = Individuals “Irrevocably” (unchangeable) transfer sovereign authority to the majority to form a government

Stage 2 = Majority makes a “Revocable” (changeable) transfer of authority to a government

Locke in a Nutshell

4. As Usurpation (illegal seizure) is the exercise of Power, so Tyranny is the exercise of Power beyond Right…When the Governor, however entitled, makes not the Law, but his Will, the Rule; and his Commands and Actions are not directed to the Preservation of the Properties of his People, but to the satisfaction of his own Ambitions. Revenge, or any other irregular Passion (are warranted.)"

Thomas Paine In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense” Originally an English citizen who

believed in the Enlightenment ideals and sympathized with the colonies

Created one of the most well known booklets in the colonies. Printed over 120,000 copies.

Questioned king’s authority & right of Britain to restrain American development.

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

Common Sense was wildly popular and it is estimated that over 1 in 5 colonists attained a copy.

Thomas Paine was able to take very complex ideas and put them into words the common man could understand.

Declaration of Independence

Six months after Common Sense was printed the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain.

Declaration of Independence

On June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia Delegate to the Second Continental Congress made a formal resolution for the colonies to declare their independence.

Thomas Jefferson was nominated to write the Declaration of Independence because he was the most articulate writer of the Congress.

The Declaration of Independence

The original declaration contained a severe condemnation of the slave trade, but this was removed from the final draft by the Second Continental Congress out of fear of offending the Southern colonies that maintained slavery.

The Declaration of Independence

The first section of the Declaration eloquently proclaimed the central principals of the Enlightenment and committed the American colonies to form a republican government. In order to justify this demand for independence to the world, the second section of the declaration listed several grievances the colonists had with King George III.

2nd Half of Declaration

Jefferson grievances of the Colonists reflected by Thomas Paine in Common Sense

Jefferson explains WHY the colonies need to rebel.

Political participation (equality or life)– Providing free public educationSocial participation (liberty)– Extending civil rights to all groupsEconomic participation (pursuit of happiness)– Promoting economic opportunity– Protecting property rights

1st Half of Declaration

The Declaration of Independence

On July 2, twelve of the thirteen colonial delegations (New York abstained) voted for independence. On July 4, the Second Continental Congress formally endorsed Jefferson's Declaration, with copies sent to all of the colonies.

Quotes from the Declaration

“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.”

Quotes from the Declaration

“That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Quotes from the Declaration

“That whenever any form of government becomes too destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government”

Ending Response…• Have we (The U.S.) reached the goals of independence

and equality set out for us in the Declaration of Independence?

• Choose one word or phrase from the Declaration of Independence that you find particularly moving. Briefly explain why.

• Explain how the ideas of Locke can be seen within the Declaration of Independence. Use specific examples and/or phrases.