Unit 10 Age of Revolutions

CC8.RH.1: Cite textual evidence

CC8.RH.2: Determine the central ideas of a primary source

American Ideals and the Enlightenment

In the Declaration, Jefferson gave the reason for starting a new country. To do this, Jefferson used ideas from John Locke. Locke said people have the right to end governments that go against their rights. The Declaration stated that “all men are created equal” and have certain rights given to them by God. It said that King George III had gone against colonists’ rights, so they had the right to rebel.

The Declaration also took ideas from earlier English writings. Both the Magna Carta and English Bill of Rights said that governments are not all-powerful and that rulers had to obey the laws and treat citizens fairly. During the Enlightenment, John Locke wrote a book called Two Treatises of Government in 1690. Many ideas of the American system are utilized. For example, he wrote that government should be based on natural law. This law gave all people certain rights from when they were born. These rights included life, liberty, and the right to own property. Locke thought it was the government’s job to protect these rights. All governments, he said, were based on a social contract. This is an agreement between rulers and the people. If a ruler took away people’s rights, the people had a right to fight and set up a new government. In 1787, 55 delegates met in Philadelphia. They wanted to change the Articles. They wrote a constitution for a brand new government. The new U.S. Constitution set up a federal system. Powers were divided between the national government and the states. They followed the ideas of Montesquieu. He thought power should be divided between executive, legislative, and judicial branches. A system called checks and balances made sure each branch did not have more power than any of the other branches.

Directions- Determine the main idea of the text and analyze causes and effects of the main idea. Use textual evidence to substantiate your claims.

Main Idea of the Excerpt:______

What caused this main idea?______

What did it lead to?______

What evidence indicates this in the reading?
Cause
Cause
Effect
Effect

Using the evidence you extracted, write a brief summary of the main points from the excerpt above.

CC8.RH.6: Author’s point of view or purpose

Determining Point of View in Primary Sources

John Locke, Concerning Civil Government, 1693, second essay, Ch. 19 / Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776
Secondly: I answer, such revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement in public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling part, many wrong and inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human frailty will be borne by the people without mutiny or murmur. But if a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what they lie under, and see whither they are going, it is not to be wondered that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the end for which government was at first erected... / Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, 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.
Primary Document Analysis
WHERE? / Where was the document produced? What was happening there during the time the document was written? How might this have influenced the writer? / LOCKE / JEFFERSON
WHO? / For whom was the document written/produced? How might this audience have received this document and why?
WHY? / Why was the document produced? What did the producer hope to accomplish through his words? What does he have to gain?
WHEN? / When does was this document created? Is there a gap in time between the event and its description? How old was the author when he wrote this document? Is it from an adult of child’s perspective?
EXPERIENCES? / Who is the speaker or producer? What can you tell me about his background? How might his personal background have influenced his work?

DIRECTIONS: After you read the primary documents above, use the chart below to Address the idea of bias and point of view in the documents. Write your responses below.