Unit 1 Topic 2; Political Philosophy
SSCG2 Demonstrate knowledge of the political philosophies that
shaped the development of United States constitutional government.
a.Analyze key ideas of limited government and the rule of law as
seen in the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the English Bill
of Rights.
b.Analyze the impact of the writings of Hobbes (Leviathan), Locke
(Second Treatise on Government), Rousseau (The Social Contract),
and Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws) on our concept of
government.
c.Analyze the ways in which the philosophies listed in element 2b
influenced the Declaration of Independence
Unit 1Topics
1. Distribution of Power ✔
2. Political Philosophies ✔
Key Document-Magna Carta
• King John’s Absolute
Power
• Excessive taxes
• Forced to sign the Magna
Carta
• List of things King can’t
do.
• “No Tax without
Consent”
Key Document-Petition of Right
•King kept wanting
money to wage wars.
•Forced to sign to get
money
•No imprison without
reason, cruel
punishments.
Key Document-English Bill of Rights
•Consent to tax
becomes the
Parliament.
•Parliament has
free speech.
•King is not divine,
serves at the
permission of
Parliament
Political Philosophers; Thomas Hobbes
•Wrote The Leviathan
•In State of Nature Life was
“Nasty, Brutish, and Short”
•People gave up all their
rights and created an
absolute government to rule
over them.
•Once created could not get
rid of this government.
Political Philosophers; John Locke
•Wrote 2nd Treatise on
Government
•“People created
governments to protect
their rights”
•Rights were “life, liberty,
and property”
•If government failed to
protect these rights, people
had a right to get rid of the
government.
Political Philosophers; Jean Rousseau
•Said that people should
abandon their natural rights
in favor of a social
contract.
•Said that the best
government to protect
rights under a social
contract was a direct
democracy.
•Under a direct democracy
all men would be equal
Political Philosophers; Charles Montesquieu
•Wrote The Spirit of Laws
•Best way to protect the
people’s rights, was
through separation of
power.
•If power separated, no
one part of government
could become tyrannical.
Influence on United States Government
•Thomas Put these ideas
together in Declaration of
Independence.
•All men are created equal
(Rousseau)
•Unalienable Rights of Life,
Liberty, and Pursuit of
Happiness (Locke)
Influence on United States Government
•Governments are instituted
among men deriving their
power from the consent of
the governed (Hobbes)
•When governments become
destructive to these ends it is
the right of the people to alter
or abolish it (Locke)