John Locke: An English enlightenment thinker who is regarded as one of the most influential enlightenment thinkers.
Jean-Jaques Rousseau: An Enlightenment thinker who believed that good government must have the freedom of all its citizens as its main goal.
Liberal Democracy: Emphasizes the separation of powers, an independent judiciary and a system of checks and balances between branches of government.
Social Democracy: A mix of democratic and socialist ideology that advocates economic and social interventions to promote social justice.
People form governments to protect their existing rights. Life, liberty and property are protected in exchange for power. The American Government is based on the ideals created by John Locke and Jean-Jaques Rousseau and as such placed several safeguards in place to ensure that people’s freedoms were never infringed upon. The bill of rights exists solely to protect people’s rights. The tight net we created to protect the people has actually failed the people as the government isn’t allowed to interfere within certain social affairs.
Hard History and Americanism
Montpelier: The home of James Madison creator of the Bill of Rights
Hard History: The acknowledgement of those who were abused and killed for the rights we have today
Hasan Kwame Jeffries explains the concept of hard history in which we acknowledge the past to recognize the present. The government was created by people who stood on the backs of others and in turn we stand on the backs of those same people. He explains that while we aren't repeating history, we are perpetuating it.
The Constitution and Its Powers
Federalism: A federal system that divides power between national and subnational governments
Enumerated powers: The powers granted to the federal government; most of these powers are listed in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.
Implied powers: The powers that are not explicitly listed in the Constitution but, are inferred.
The Constitution delegates the power that the various branches of government have and the powers are addressed by the first three articles of the constitution. Congress has enumerated and implied powers. Enumerated powers are explicitly listed in the Constitution whereas implied powers look at what powers they have and make inferences. One of the things that falls under implied rights is the establishment of a national bank. The Constitution grants the most power to congress, and the most freedom to the Supreme Court.