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Basic Concepts of Government

Ordered Government	The first English colonists saw the need for an orderly regulation of their relationships with one another- that is, for government. Many offices and units of government they established are still with us today such as: the offices of sheriff, coroner, assessor, and justice of the peace, the grand jury, counties, townships, and several others
Limited Government	The colonists brought with them the idea that government is not all-powerful. That is the government is restricted in what it may do and each individual has certain rights that government cannont take away.
Representative Government	The idea of which the government should serve the will of the people. With it had come a growing insistence that the people should have a voice in deciding what government should and should not do.

Landmark English Documents

Magna Carta	A group of barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta the "Great Charter" which included such fundamental rights as trial by jury and due process of law- protection against the arbitrary taking of life, liberty, or property.
The Petition of Right	In 1628, when Charles I asked Parliament for more money in taxes, Parliament refused until he signed the Petition of Right which limited the king's power in several ways such as no longer imprison or otherwise punish any person but by the lawful judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land
English Bill of Rights	Prohibited a standing army during peacetime, except with the consent of the Parliament, and required that all parliamentary elections be free. It guaranteed rights to fair trial and freedom from excessive bail and from cruel and unusual punishment

Royal Colonies: The royal colonies were subject to the direct control of the Crown. The King named a governor to serve as the colony's chief executive.

Proprietary Colonies: These colonies were organized by a proprietor, a person to whome the king had made a grant of land. The land could be settled and governed as much as the proprietor chose.

Charter Colonies: These colonies were based on charters granted in 1662 and 1663, respectively, to the colonists themselves and were largely self-governing

Principles of American Democracy

12.1 Students explain the fundamental principles and moral values of American democracy as expressed in the U.S. Constitution and other essential documents of American democracy.

Explain how the U.S. Constitution reflects a balance between the classical republican concern with promotion of the public good and the classical liberal concern with protecting individual rights; and discuss how the basic premises of liberal constitutionalism and democracy are joined in the Declaration of Independence as "self-evident truths."

Explain how the Founding Fathers' realistic view of human nature led directly to the establishment of a constitutional system that limited the power of the governors and the governed as articulated in the Federalist Papers.

Our Political Beginning | The Coming of Independence | The Critical Period | Creating the Constitution | Ratifying the Constitution

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