UNITED STATES HISTORY

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UNITED STATES HISTORY CIVICS

• What You Need to Know!

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HISTORY CIVICS

• SOL 11.4.a The student will analyze the events
  and ideas of the Constitutional Era, with
  emphasis on new constitutions in Virginia and
  other states, the Virginia Statute for Religious
  Freedom, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and
  the Articles of Confederation.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• The Ideas of John Locke
• The period known as the Enlightenment in Europe
  during the 17th and 18th centuries saw the
  development of new ideas about the rights of
  people and their relationship to their rulers.
  John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher whose
  ideas, more than any others, influenced the
  American belief in self-government.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Locke wrote that
• All people are free, equal, and have natural
  rights of life, liberty, and property that
  rulers cannot take away.

John Locke
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HISTORY CIVICS

• Locke believed
• All original power resides in the people, and
  they consent to enter into a social contract
  among themselves to form a government to protect
  their rights. In return, the people promise to
  obey the laws and rules established by their
  government, establishing a system of ordered
  liberty.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Locke declared
• Governments powers are limited to those the
  people have consented to give to it. Whenever
  government becomes a threat to the peoples
  natural rights, it breaks the social contract and
  the people have the right to alter or overthrow
  it.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Lockes ideas about the sovereignty and rights of
  the people were radical and challenged the
  centuries-old practice throughout the world of
  dictatorial rule by kings, emperors, and tribal
  chieftains.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Thomas Paine and Common Sense
• Thomas Paine was an English immigrant to America
  who produced a pamphlet known as Common Sense
  that challenged the rule of the American colonies
  by the King of England.

Thomas Paine
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HISTORY CIVICS

• Thomas Paine and Common Sense
• Common Sense was read and acclaimed by many
  American colonists during the mid-1700s and
  contributed to a growing sentiment for
  independence from England.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• The Declaration of Independence
• The eventual draft of the Declaration of
  Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson of
  Virginia, reflected the ideas of Locke and Paine

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HISTORY CIVICS

• 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.

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HISTORY CIVICS

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

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HISTORY CIVICS

• That whenever any form of government becomes
  destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
  people to alter or abolish it, and to institute
  new government
• Jefferson then went on to detail many of the
  grievances against the king that Paine had
  earlier described in Common Sense.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• The student will demonstrate knowledge of the
  issues involved in the creation and ratification
  of the Constitution of the United States of
  America and show how the principles of limited
  government, consent of the governed, and the
  social contract are embodied in it by explaining
  the origins of the Constitution, including the
  Articles of Confederation. (VUS.5a)

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HISTORY CIVICS

• How did Americas relationship with England
  before and during the Revolution influence the
  structure of the first national government?
• American political leaders feared a powerful
  central government
• They adopted the Articles of Confederation,
  leaving most powers to the states

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HISTORY CIVICS

• What weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
  led to the effort to draft a new constitution?
• Provided for weak national government ex.
  Shays Rebellion led by Daniel Shays in
  Massachusetts
• Gave Congress no power to tax or regulate
  commerce
• Provided for no common currency
• Provided for no executive or judicial branch
• Gave each state one vote regardless of size

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HISTORY CIVICS

• The student will demonstrate knowledge of the
  issues involved in the creation and ratification
  of the Constitution of the United States of
  America and show how the principles of limited
  government, consent of the governed, and the
  social contract are embodied in it by identifying
  the major compromises necessary to produce the
  Constitution, and the roles of James Madison and
  George Washington. (VUS.5b)

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HISTORY CIVICS

• How did the delegates to the Constitutional
  Convention balance competing interests?
• Made federal law the supreme law of the land, but
  also gave the states authority to govern
  themselves (federalism).

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Power of large states (Virginia Plan) v. the
  small states (New Jersey Plan) in the legislature
  resolved by the Great Compromise (Senate
  represented by state House represented by
  population)

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Limited power of central government by
  establishing three co-equal branches
  legislative, executive, and judicial with checks
  and balances and separation of powers

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Limited the powers of the federal government to
  those identified in the Constitution (limited
  government and social contract theory)

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Placated Southern states by counting three-fifths
  of slaves for representation in the House of
  Representatives (Three-Fifths Compromise)

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HISTORY CIVICS

• What roles did George Washington and James
  Madison play in the Convention?
• George Washington Chairman of the Convention
  presided over the proceedings and seldom
  participated in debates lent prestige to the
  proceedings
• James Madison Father of the Constitution led
  debates kept notes authored the Virginia Plan
  (federal government with three branches of
  government) authored the Bill of Rights

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HISTORY CIVICS

• How did earlier Virginia Statutes influence the
  Bill of Rights?
• Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
• Basic human rights that cannot be violated by
  governments
• Became basis for the U.S. Bill of Rights
• Written by George Mason

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786)
• Ended official relationship between church and
  state
• Established principle of religious liberty
• Written by Thomas Jefferson
• First Amendment guaranteed freedom of speech and
  religion and was based on the Virginia Statute of
  Religious Freedom

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HISTORY CIVICS

• James Madison
• Consulted the Virginia Declaration of Rights and
  the Virginia Statute for religious freedom while
  drafting the amendments that became the Bill of
  Rights.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Court Cases
• Marbury v. Madison Judicial Review
• McCulloch v. Maryland Supremacy Clause (the
  power to tax is the power to destroy)

Chief Justice John Marshall
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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Court Cases
• Dred Scott Case Declared that slaves were a
  subordinate and inferior class of beings with
  no rights the white man was bound to respect.
• Slaves were property and could be taken into
  free states and territories.
• Missouri Compromise declared illegal.
• This overturned efforts to limit the spread of
  slavery.

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Court Cases
• Plessy v. Ferguson - established the separate
  but equal doctrine i.e. segregation did not
  violate the constitution, upholding Jim Crow
  laws of that era
• Brown v. Board of Education declared that
  segregated schools are unequal and must
  desegregate overturned Plessy v. Ferguson

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Amendments
• Bill of Rights First 10 Amendments
• Based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights by
  George Mason of Virginia!

James Madison
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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Amendments
• Ist Amendment freedom of religion, speech,
  press, assembly, and petition (for redress of
  grievances)

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Amendments
• Civil War Amendments
• 13th Amendment - abolished slavery
• 14th Amendment Civil Rights States were
  prohibited from denying equal rights under the
  law to any American citizen (defined citizenship)
• 15th Amendment Right to Vote Guaranteed
  regardless of race, color, or previous condition
  of servitude

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Amendments
• 17th Amendment Direct election of U.S. senators

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HISTORY CIVICS

• Important Amendments
• 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote
  (womens suffrage)