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Government Topic 1.1
Comparative Government (COGO241)
Florida College
Related Studylists
AP GovPreview text
Topic 1: Ideals of Democracy
Source Analysis
Before You Read
Political scientists analyze founding documents for ways that they relate to our government today. They focus less on the historical situation and more on how the principles established in the documents were used to create our governmental structures.
As you prepare to read the Declaration of Independence from a political science perspective, take a moment and think about what some of the main themes in the Declaration mean to you. When you think about our government, how do you think these principles relate?
What individual rights should a government protect for its people?
What government should provide for the people?
How the people hold government accountable?
Required Document: Excerpts from The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson (for a committee) Paired with: Excerpts from Second Treatise of Civil Government by John Locke
Related Concepts:
◼ Purpose of Government ◼ Natural Rights
◼ Social Contract Theory ◼ Balance Between Liberty and Order
Definition
attributes, traits, and elements in defining terms and concepts.
Describe the author’s claim(s), perspective, evidence, and reasoning.
AP U. Government and Politics Analytical Reading Activities
3
The government should protect the people’s individual rights and freedoms, like the freedom of speech and religion. Citizens have the right to a speedy trial and the right to bear arms which the government should protect as well.
The government should provide the people with things like education healthcare, hospital care and military protection, in return the people should pay taxes so the government can provide those things.
If the government is abusing power and making irrational decisions, the people have a right to overthrow them. The people can make sure the government does not become too powerful and make certain decisions without consent of the people.
The Declaration of Independence
As you read the text, consider how the author develops an argument for independence that reflects his perspective on the nature and purpose of government. Try to identify the evidence he uses to support his argument. Think about how Jefferson defines rights and how government relates to those rights. The questions you see in the margin will guide your note-taking and help you see the evidence and reasoning Jefferson uses. Definitions for some non-academic vocabulary words and phrases can be found at the bottom of the page.
Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
If the government starts to turn on the people, looking for what is best for them rather than the good of the people, then the public has the right to end their political alliance with the government.
dissolve: bring to an end entitle: establish a right to impel: force or urge
Check Your Understanding Use the space below the first paragraph to rewrite what Jefferson is saying in your own words.
Academic Vocabulary Find the phrase “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” in this paragraph. Use context clues within the text to determine what Jefferson means.
By this phrase, Jefferson means that the basic morals by nature and the will of God
Source Analysis Highlight or underline the phrase in this paragraph that explains why Jefferson wrote this document.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
evinces: reveals or shows clearly
usurpations: to take or make use of without right
Source Analysis According to Jefferson, under what conditions are the people justified in throwing off a government?
Source Analysis What does the text on this page tell us about Jefferson’s perspective on government?
When the government fails to protect the rights of the people, the people have the right to abolish it
That the government should
look after the best interest of
the people, and once the start
to abuse their power the people
have the right to rebel
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them....
...
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people....
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the
Check Your Understanding Here, Jefferson names a series of grievances or complaints against the King. How does this list relate to Jefferson’s earlier assertions about the nature and purpose of government?
Source Analysis How does Jefferson use these grievances as evidence to support his claim?
British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved...
He shows how the government has wronged the colonies and ignored their complaints, becoming a tyrant.
He shows that in every which way the government has wronged the people, going against their best interests.
Second Treatise of
Civil Government
In John Locke’s Second Treatise , the Enlightenment philosopher explains his theory of natural rights and the social contract. Aspects of Locke’s work can be found in the Declaration of Independence. A political scientist reads and analyzes the Second Treatise in an effort to deepen his or her understanding of our founding principles.
This text, like the Declaration of Independence, is a primary source document. It is a challenging read. As a reader, consider what this may mean in terms of your pacing and stamina.
As you read the text, consider how the author develops an argument about people’s rights and government. Make notes in the margin of the text where you see evidence being used to advance the argument.
As you respond to the questions both in the margins and those that follow the reading, it is often useful to cite the specific text that formed the basis on your response.
Source Information: The Second Treatise of Government (1690), by John Locke
Of the State of Nature.
Sec. 4. To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and
Check Your Understanding According to Locke, what is the natural state of men?
persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.
AP U. Government and Politics Analytical Reading Activities
That people have the freedom to
act as they see fit within the
confines of morality.
A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty....
Equality is that no one person is less than another unless God has said otherwise.
Sec. 6.... The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obli g es ev ery one, and r eason, which is t h at l a w , t eaches all mankind... t h a t being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm ano t her in his li f e, heal t h, libe r t y , or possession s .... Every one, as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully [sic], so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and not unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.
reciprocal: shared or felt by both sides faculties: inherent functions; natural ability
Check Your Understanding Paraphrase in the space below the first paragraph on this page what Locke says about equality.
Check Your Understanding According to Locke, what could set one man above another?
Source Analysis What is Locke’s claim regarding the “state of Nature” in this paragraph?
Academic Vocabulary Underline the text in Sec. 6 that explains what Locke means by the “law of Nature.”
If God had selected a
particular person to be above
the others (sort of like a king)
That no one has the right to
harm another person’s rights
Of Tyranny.
Sec. 199. As usurpation is the exercise of power which another hath a right to, so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage.
No one has the right to have complete power over a group of people, being a tyrant means using the power they have for their own benefit.
Check Your Understanding In Sec. 199, Locke gives examples of tyranny. Use the space below the text to summarize his position in your own words.
Source Analysis How does Locke’s argument about tyranny compare to Jefferson’s argument?
When the governor, however intitled, 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 the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion.
Of the Dissolution of Government.
Sec. 222. The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end while they choose and authorise a legislative is that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society, to limit the power, and moderate the dominion of every part and member of the society. ...
.. the legislators endeavour to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence. ... by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and by the establishment of a new legislative (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own safety and security, which is the end for which they are in society.
covetousness: desire for wealth; greed
Source Analysis Circle the text in Sec. 222 where Locke explains why men enter into society.
Source Analysis What does Locke argue is the consequence when government threatens the rights of the people?
It is comparable because they
both practically have the same
concept of a tyrant, those who
abuses power for their benefit
and disregards the complaints
of the people
The government is no longer at
peace with the subjected party
and they lose the power given
by the governed
After You Read
Thinking Like a Political Scientist
Reasoning Process: Describe
How did John Locke define equality? What rights were all men entitled to in his state of nature?
What, according to Locke, are the elements of the social contract?
Political Science Disciplinary Practices
Source Analysis
In the Second Treatise , how did Locke come to the conclusion that men are equal in a state of nature?
Describe Locke’s reasoning regarding how governments were formed from a state of nature. Do you find his argument compelling? Explain.
What evidence was most useful to the author in supporting this claim?
Everyone having the same rights unless told otherwise by God that someone is
higher. Life, health, liberty, and possessions
That the government can only govern those who agree to be, the governed
lose the right to equality, liberty and executive power, but By joining they gain
comfortable, safe, peaceable living with a secure enjoyment of their
properties.
By realizing that naturally no man is under the control of another
That government must have consent of the governed first, and once they do, they
must exchange their protection for some rights of those who consent. I do not find
this compelling as I have lived in a government with this philosophy all my life
The examples of tyranny he provided as it showed the other side of his argument
Government Topic 1.1
Course: Comparative Government (COGO241)
University: Florida College
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