Ideals of democracy | 1.1

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##Introduction

In 1776, the [[☃ definition 1]] issued the Declaration of Independence, stating their specific grievances with the British monarchy and why they were going to create a separate government. After the colonies separated from the British monarchy and formed the United States of America, they had to answer some crucial questions: 1) If not a monarchy, what type of government was the United States going to have? 2) What kind of government was going to protect the people without violating their individual liberties?

[[☃ definition 2]] decided to create a limited government based on ideas of natural rights, popular sovereignty, republicanism, and the social contract. We can see some of these ideas pop up in the foundational documents of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But what are these democratic ideas and why has the United States continued to hold onto them for more than 250 years?

This article describes each of these democratic ideas and explains why the Framers used them as a basis for government.

###What is a limited government?

After the colonies decided to separate from the British monarchy, the Framers had to develop a system of government that would gain the support of all of the Patriots. They agreed on a system of limited government.

Limited government is a political system in which there are certain restrictions placed on the government to protect individual rights and liberties. This decision to create a limited government was a deliberate departure from the British monarchy, which the Framers felt violated their rights. They intentionally created a limited government that would have to abide by a set of rules designed by the people of the country.

Now that the Framers had a plan for the type of government they were going to have, they had to decide a few things:

• What are the roles and responsibilities of this government?

• How will the government respond to the will of the people?

To answer these questions, the Framers turned to political philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, whose ideas about what makes a government successful inspired the current system of government in the United States today.

###What are natural rights?

The main argument in the Declaration of Independence was that the British monarchy violated the natural rights of the American people. Natural rights, sometimes called unalienable rights, are rights the Framers believed all people are born with and can never give up. The Founders argued that the government’s central purpose should be to protect and uphold these rights.

John Locke, an [[☃ definition 1]] philosopher, described natural rights as the rights to one’s own “life, liberty, and property.” His work inspired Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence, who described unalienable rights as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Having defined these natural rights, the Founders of the United States then had to answer the question: “How do we make sure society safeguards natural rights without giving the government too much power?”

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###What is a social contract?

For the government to protect the natural rights of American citizens, people would have to see the government as an authority they must respect. They would enter into a social contract with each other, meaning that American society as a whole would agree to give up some freedoms to be protected by the federal government. Thomas Hobbes, an English political philosopher, theorized that the social contract was the foundation of government.

If the people did not give up some freedoms, then the government would have no way to rule over them. For instance, you can’t just walk into someone’s house if the door is open and claim that the house is now yours. That is a freedom that you give up so the government can protect you from someone else doing the same thing to you. However, by ensuring that the government was limited, the Founders created a system that protected the freedoms granted to the people.

Still, [[☃ definition 1]] were concerned about a strong central government turning into a tyrannical monarchy again. They faced yet another question: how do the people ensure that the government does not get too powerful and start restricting all of their freedoms?

###What is popular sovereignty?

The Founders believed that the United States should be founded on the principle of popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is the idea that the government’s power comes from the will of the people or the “consent of the governed.” If the government started to violate the will of the people, Americans would have the right to change that.

This idea is the main argument within the Declaration of Independence, which claimed that the British monarchy had become too powerful and was not listening to the needs and desires of the colonists, who therefore had the right to rebel.

In the United States, we see popular sovereignty at a smaller level in most elections when the power of the government shifts from one political party to another. When control of the government shifts from one party to another, it shows that the will of the people has also changed.

Changes in leadership gives us insight into what the people want from their government. Political parties play a vital role in American politics, as they represent the opinions and needs of the people to the government.

###What is republicanism?

Leading up to the Revolutionary War, a famous phrase was “No taxation without representation!” To feel like their wants and needs were being heard by the government, the colonists wanted direct representation, but the British were unwilling to grant that to the colonies. Keeping that in mind, the Founders wanted to make sure that they were creating a political system that represented the people. But how do the people get the government to listen to their will?

The Framers believed that the best form of government is one in which elected leaders represent the interests of the people. This is known as republicanism.

The Framers wanted the will of the people to be reflected in the daily decisions of government and to prevent a tyrannical government from rising. By creating a system of government in which the people elected their leaders, the Framers believed that there was less of a chance of a government that would hold onto power and refuse to give it up.

Despite the Framers' desire to create a representative government, they extended the privilege of voting only to a small portion of US citizens: white, landowning men. It took nearly 200 years to extend voting rights to all people in the United States, meaning that not every person’s needs and wants were heard or represented in government for a lot of American history.

##What do you think?

1. How do some of these democratic ideas continue to show up in American politics today?

2. How do these democratic ideas influence the decisions and actions of American politicians?

[[☃ explanation 1]]

[[☃ explanation 1]]

##National treasures

In the US National Archives in Washington, DC, armed guards stand on constant watch in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. There, underneath bullet-proof glass and beneath the watchful eyes of a state-of-the-art system of cameras and sensors, the faded pages of three documents are enshrined: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. At night, the documents are stored in an underground vault, rumored to be strong enough to withstand a nuclear attack.

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Why are these pieces of paper so highly protected and cherished? In short, it’s because they serve as the ideological foundations for the government of the United States. They express both the inspiration for American democracy and the blueprint for carrying it out.

In this article, you'll learn the origins of these documents, and we'll examine the democratic ideals found within them.

##The Declaration of Independence

Setting the stage

In 1776, the thirteen British colonies in North America were rebelling against British rule, after more than a decade of strife over taxation and government representation. As the Revolutionary War got underway, representatives from each of the colonies agreed it was time to put forward a statement expressing the colonies’ reasons for desiring independence.

This momentous task fell upon Thomas Jefferson, a 33-year-old Virginia lawyer. Jefferson was inspired by the English [[☃ definition 1]] philosopher John Locke, whose writings on government put forward two ideas that would become quite important to Jefferson:

• That all humans are born with “natural rights,” including the right to protect their lives, liberty, and property

• That government is a “social contract” between people and their rulers, which can be dissolved if rulers fail to promote the people’s welfare

Although these ideas seem pretty tame by modern standards, in the eighteenth century they were tantamount to treason. The nations of Europe were led by monarchs, who exercised the divine right of kings and owed little or no consideration to the will of their subjects. English citizens had some rights, certainly, but no one would dare to say that the English monarchy could simply be dissolved.

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Nevertheless, Jefferson, in writing the Declaration, hoped to dissolve the relationship between the American colonies and Britain. He drafted the Declaration and gave it to his colleagues, John Adams of Massachusetts and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, for revisions. After incorporating their suggestions, Jefferson submitted the Declaration to the colonial representatives for approval.

Read the full text of the Declaration of Independence

What is the Declaration of Independence?

At the most basic level, the Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances against the British Crown, seeking the sympathy of the international community for the cause of the colonies in revolting against their mother country. But at a higher level, the ideas expressed in the Declaration serve as the inspiration for American democratic values. They are some of the most poetic and meaningful words in all of American writing:

“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.

— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

These ideas, that all men are created equal and that government is based on the consent of the governed, became the foundation for the US political ideal of popular sovereignty: that the government exists to serve the people, who elect representatives to express their will.

The colonial representatives voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which has been celebrated as the official birthday of the United States ever since.

##The Constitution

Although the Declaration served as an inspiration for American democracy, it did not outline an actual system of government. In the years during and immediately after the Revolution, the US government operated under the Articles of Confederation, a government system that placed most power in the hands of state governments.

We’ll talk more about the specifics of the Articles of Confederation later on in this course, but for now, suffice it to say that by the late 1780s, it was clear that the Articles weren’t working. The United States needed a new, stronger blueprint for government.

In 1787, representatives from the states met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Constitutional Convention. Their task was a difficult one: to create a government system that was powerful enough to meet the needs of the United States, but not so powerful that it would become [[☃ definition 1]]. Likewise, they wanted to balance the will of the majority with the rights of the minority, so that the powerful many could not trample the few.

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Under the leadership of Revolutionary War hero George Washington, the delegates debated the elements of a new Constitution. The final version, influenced strongly by Virginian James Madison and New Yorker Alexander Hamilton, reinforced the idea that government derives from a social contract by citizens for their mutual advantage:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Constitution drafted in Philadelphia more than two hundred years ago still forms the basis for US government today. Amended just twenty-seven times in that period (including the first set of ten amendments, or the Bill of Rights, which was passed immediately after the Constitution’s ratification), the US Constitution is the oldest functioning national constitution in the world. It serves as the blueprint for the unique form of political democracy found in the United States.

##What do you think?

1. How are the original goals of the Constitution similar to, and different from, the original goals of the Declaration of Independence?

2. What does popular sovereignty mean? How would you define it in your own words?

3. Which aspects of the Declaration and the Constitution do you see as most critical to the ideals of American democracy?

[[☃ explanation 1]]

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.

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.

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.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

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.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

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 British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

The United States government is based on ideas of limited government, including natural rights, popular sovereignty, republicanism, and social contract. These ideas are reflected in two of the United States’ foundational documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

##Key terms

Term | Definition

• | -
  Constitutional Convention | also called the Philadelphia Convention; meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 states to revise or replace the Articles of Confederation with a new Constitution featuring a stronger central government
  limited government | political system in which government’s power is restricted by laws or a written Constitution
  natural rights | rights to life, liberty, and property, which no government may take away
  republicanism | principle of governing through elected representatives
  social contract | agreement between people and government in which citizens consent to be governed so long as government protects their natural rights

##People to know

Person | Contribution

• | -
  John Adams | Massachusetts statesman and leader in the movement for American independence. Adams aided Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence.
  Ben Franklin | Pennsylvania statesman and leader in the movement for American independence. Franklin aided Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence.
  Alexander Hamilton | New York statesman who promoted replacing the Articles of Confederation with a stronger central government. He coauthored the Federalist Papers, which argued in favor of ratifying the Constitution.
  Thomas Jefferson | Principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
  James Madison | Virginia statesman and major contributor to the US Constitution. He coauthored the Federalist Papers and wrote the Bill of Rights.
  George Washington | Revolutionary War general who presided over the Constitutional Convention.

##Important documents

The Declaration of Independence - reasons why the Thirteen Colonies in North America desired independence from Great Britain; ideals for government expressed in the Declaration, including popular sovereignty and social contract, serve as inspiration for American democratic values

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Quote to know:

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.

The United States Constitution - blueprint for how American government functions; establishes the three separate branches of US government (legislative, executive, and judicial) and describes the relationship between the states and the federal government; demonstrates the principle of limited government in the United States by restricting the powers of government; also establishes the principle of republicanism by establishing the process for citizens to elect representatives to the legislature

Quote to know:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

##Key takeaways from this lesson

Balancing liberty and order: From the beginning, the US government has attempted to balance individual rights and liberties with the government power necessary to, as the Constitution puts it, “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, [and] provide for the common defense.”

The Declaration of Independence serves as a statement of the Founders’ beliefs in natural rights and individual liberties. With the Constitution, early American statesmen attempt to build a government that is strong enough to sustain itself without infringing on citizens’ rights and liberties.

##Check for understanding

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##Review questions

1. What are natural rights? How would you describe them in your own words?

2. How are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution similar? How are they different?

[[☃ explanation 1]]