What is the responsibility of the citizen to prevent abuses by the government?

We the People:The Citizen and the Constitution
High School Grades
Pupil Book

Purpose of Lesson

This lesson introduces yous to some bones ideas the Framers used in creating the kind of government they idea would best protect the natural rights of each private and promote the practiced of all.
When yous finish this lesson you should empathize the difference between express and unlimited government, the difference between written and unwritten constitutions, and how Americans have used the term constitutional authorities. You should be able to explicate why a authorities with a constitution is non necessarily a ramble government, and exist able to identify alternative models of government that the Founders had to choose from.

Terms to Know

autocracy canton checks and balances city-state common skillful constitution ramble government

consul delegated powers republic dictatorship equal protection higher law express authorities

private domain republic separation of powers totalitarianism tyranny unwritten constitution written constitution

Disquisitional Thinking Practice
Examining Authorities Protection of the Basic Rights of the People

Suppose you are not satisfied with living in a land of nature. You and others hold to enter into a social contract and a government to protect your natural rights. You must decide what kind of authorities you want and then plant it. Locke, Jefferson, and others knew that this is non an piece of cake chore. Throughout history governments have deprived people of their rights more ofttimes than they have protected them. Your trouble is to design and establish the kind of regime that will practise what you desire it to exercise, that is, protect your natural rights. This also means providing equal protection  for the rights of everyone.
You and anybody else in your imaginary state of nature have agreed to alive nether a government. There are questions y'all must respond in deciding what kind of authorities to create. Your instructor will separate the grade into modest groups to hash out your answers. Then compare your answers with those of John Locke and explicate why you hold or disagree with Locke.

1. What in your opinion is the main purpose of regime?
2. How should regime get the authority or correct to make laws telling people what they can and cannot exercise?
3. What should the people have the right to do if their government does not serve the purposes for which it was created? Why should they have this correct?

How do your answers compare with those of John Locke?

1. Locke and other natural rights philosophers said that the purpose of regime is to protect natural rights. Thomas Jefferson agreed and in the Declaration of Independence argued that the protection of rights is the principal purpose of government.
2. Another of Locke's ideas that Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence is that government gets its right to govern from the consent of the people. Its powers are delegated to it by the governed. People requite their consent in several ways. People tin can give explicit consent past
   • like-minded to the contract that establishes the club whose members and so constitute the government and choose its officers
   • joining a society that already is established
   People give implicit consent, also called tacit consent, by accepting the laws and services of the government and nation of their birth.
3. Locke believed that since the people give the ability to the government, they have the right to take it away if the regime is not serving the purposes for which information technology was established. They can then create a new government. Locke argued and the Founders agreed that if a government fails to protect the people's rights, the people take a right of revolution.

Under what circumstances would Locke agree that people
have the right to take up artillery against an established government?
Who is to judge if a government has failed? Locke and the Founders said that the people take the right to make that decision. This position is in the post-obit words from the Declaration of Independence: "Whenever any Grade of Regime becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government..."

Revolution, all the same, is an extreme way in which to deal with bad government. Government should be designed or organized to limit its powers in order to protect individual rights and thus reduce the need for such extreme measures.

How do Americans express consent to their government?

The Americans who ratified our Constitution in 1787 gave explicit consent to their new government. And so did the many immigrants who came to America to seek a meliorate life. Those who are born here have implied their consent by remaining in this land and living under its laws.
Every native-born American, every bit he or she grows up, has the choice of seeking the citizenship of some other country. By remaining in this state, accepting its laws, and enjoying its benefits, you imply your consent to be governed by your federal, land, and local governments. You also affirm your consent every time you lot take the Pledge of Fidelity, participate in an ballot, or engage in other civic deportment.

What is ramble regime?

Express governments  have established and respected restraints on their powers, restraints such as laws and gratuitous and periodic elections. The opposite is unlimited government , in which those who govern are free to apply their power equally they choose, unrestrained by laws or elections. Tyranny, autocracy, dictatorship, and totalitarianism are other words to describe unlimited government.
What course of government was best suited to prevent the corruption of ability in the newly independent states of America? From their reading of both history and the natural rights philosophers, the Founders believed that whatever authorities that served its proper ends would have to exist a limited or constitutional regime. In a constitutional government , the powers of the person or group controlling the government are express past a set up of laws and customs called a constitution .

What is a constitution?

A constitution is a set of community, traditions, rules, and laws that sets along the basic way a authorities is organized and operated. Most constitutions are in writing, some are partly written and partly unwritten, and some are non written at all.
Notice that according to this definition of the word, every nation has a constitution. Good governments and bad governments may have constitutions. Some of the worst governments have constitutions that include lists of the basic rights of their citizens. The erstwhile Soviet Union had i of the longest and most elaborate constitutions in history, just in reality its citizens enjoyed few of the rights guaranteed by information technology.

If y'all study the constitution of a authorities, you will be able to reply the post-obit questions most the relationship between the government and its citizens:

• What are the purposes of government?
• How is the government organized?
• How is the government supposed to go about doing its business concern?
• Who is considered to be a citizen?
• Are the citizens supposed to accept any power or control over their government? If so, how is information technology to be exercised?
• What rights and responsibilities, if any, are the citizens supposed to have?

It is very important to understand that having a constitution does not mean that a nation has a constitutional government. If a constitution provides for the unlimited exercise of political ability-by one, few, or even many-such a constitution would not be the basis of a ramble government. If a constitution provides that the government's power is to exist express, but information technology does not include ways to enforce those limitations, information technology is not the ground of a constitutional government. In a constitutional government the constitution is a form of higher or fundamental constabulary that must be obeyed past anybody, including those in power.

How did the Founders characterize higher law?

According to the Founders, a constitution or higher police force should take the following characteristics:

• It sets forth the basic rights of citizens to life, freedom, and property.
• It establishes the responsibleness of the government to protect those rights.
• It establishes limitations on how those in authorities may use their powers with regard to
  • citizens' rights and responsibilities
  • the distribution of resources
  • the command of conflict
• Information technology establishes the principle of a individual domainwhich means that at that place are areas of citizens' lives that are no business of the authorities and in which the government cannot interfere.
• It tin can only be inverse with the widespread consent of the citizens, and co-ordinate to established and well-known procedures. This distinguishes the higher law from the ordinary law that governments regularly create and enforce.

How does the principle of private domain protect y'all from government interference?

What do yous think?

1. One of the purposes of the limitations imposed by constitutional government is to check the power of the majority. How tin can this be justified in a political organization that is supposed to be democratic?
2. What are the major advantages, in your judgment, of limited government? What are the well-nigh serious disadvantages?
3. Are there advantages to unlimited government? If so, what are they?

How does a constitutional government protect natural rights?

Constitutional regime assures the rights of its citizens in two ways:

• It establishes limits on the ability of the regime to preclude it from violating natural rights.
• It states that the authorities should be organized and its power distributed in such a way as to increase the possibility that those limitations will be constructive.

The first is a purely legal protection  of a citizen'due south freedom. The side by side is an organizational protection , having to do with the mode in which government operates.

How can constitutional governments exist organized to prevent the abuse of power?

In ramble governments powers are commonly distributed and shared amongst several branches of authorities. This distribution and sharing of power makes it less likely that any one branch can corruption or misuse its powers. It is also less likely that whatever grouping volition proceeds then much power that it can ignore the limitations placed on it by the constitution.
To forestall our government from abusing its powers, the Framers provided for distribution and sharing of powers among three branches of the national government. Each branch has main responsibleness for sure functions, only each branch as well shares these functions and powers with the other branches. For example,

• The Congress may pass laws, simply the president may veto them.
• The president nominates certain government officials, simply the Senate must corroborate them.
• The Congress may pass laws, but the Supreme Court may declare them unconstitutional.

It is this system of distributed and shared powers that provides the ground for checks and balances . Although each co-operative of the government has its own special powers, many of these powers are "checked" because they are shared with the other groups.
The complicated ways in which constitutional governments are organized ofttimes hateful that it takes them a long time to get things done. It may seem strange, but this "inefficiency" was seen by the Framers as an advantage. They thought that these difficulties would help to foreclose the corruption of power and make information technology more probable that when a decision was finally fabricated, it would be a expert i.

Critical Thinking Practice
Examining Why the Founders Feared the Corruption of Ability past Government

Given their knowledge of history and their experiences with the British government, it is not surprising that the Founders greatly feared the possible corruption of the powers of regime. For case, read the following selections from some of their writings. Then hash out with the grade your answers to the questions that follow.

"Requite all power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all power to the few, they will oppress the many." Alexander Hamilton, 1787 "There are two passions which take a powerful influence on the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; the dear of power and the love of money." Benjamin Franklin, 1787

"From the nature of man, we may be certain that those who have power in their hands...will e'er, when they tin...increase it." George Bricklayer, 1787

1. Explain the view of human nature expressed in each of these quotations.
2. If you agreed with the views of human being nature expressed in the quotations, what kind of safeguards to prevent the abuse of ability would yous include in your regime?
3. Do you lot think the Founders' fear of government is as valid today every bit it was in the 1700s? Explicate your respond.

What kinds of governments may be ramble governments?

The Founders knew that constitutional authorities can take many forms. It is possible to accept a constitutional regime with one ruler, a grouping of rulers, or rule by the people as a whole, so long equally those in power obey the limitations placed on them past the "college law" of the constitution. Historically, constitutional governments take included monarchies, republics, democracies, and various combinations of these forms of government.
History has shown, however, that problems inevitably arise when a constitutional government is ruled by one person or a small grouping of people. If all power is given to a select few, information technology is difficult to ensure that they will obey the limitations placed on them by a constitution. The rulers in such nations would control the armed forces and law enforcement agencies. How could citizens forcefulness the rulers to obey their constitution?

Monarchy-rule by a king or queen-was past far the well-nigh mutual form of government in the eighteenth century. The Founders preferred a form of regime more broadly representative of the interests of the whole nation.

What alternative models of government could the Founders cull from?

The most obvious culling to monarchy was a republic , a model of government with which the Founders were familiar through their knowledge of ancient history. The Founders admired the republics of ancient Hellenic republic and Rome. They also had studied more recent examples of republican governments , such equally the Italian city-states of the Renaissance and the cantons of Switzerland.
The Founders differed among themselves about exactly what a republican government was. In general it meant a form of authorities

• devoted to promoting the public good, the res publicae, which is Latin for "thing of the people"
• in which political authority was shared by all or most of the citizens rather than held by a hereditary monarch
• whose political authorisation was exercised through the community'south chosen representatives in government

Today we view republican and democratic government as well-nigh the same matter. The United States, we believe, is both a republic and a democracy. The Founders, however, drew a precipitous distinction betwixt the two forms of government.
Democracy had traditionally meant a form of authorities in which ultimate authority was based on the volition of the majority.

This majority unremarkably consisted of those classes in the customs that had the greatest number of people-information technology came from the Greek demos , meaning people. These classes tended to be the poorer people. In its purest course, republic also meant a government in which members participated directly in their ain governance instead of through representatives.

The Founders were familiar with democratic institutions. For generations, local authorities in many of the colonies tended to be democratic in nature. The New England "town coming together" is one instance. Based on their reading of history and their own experience, however, the Founders were concerned about democracy as a model for state or national government. Their preference for the republican equally opposed to the autonomous model of government influenced the framing of the Constitution.

What do you think?

1. How would you organize a government and then it would exist adequately easy to remove and replace officials who were non doing a good job?
2. What might happen in a government where there was no agreed-on or peaceful means for removing officials? Give a recent example to back up your respond.
3. How did the Founders describe the difference between republican and autonomous forms of government? Why practise yous think the Framers of the Constitution favored the onetime rather than the latter?

Reviewing and Using the Lesson

1. How would you explicate the difference between a limited government and an unlimited authorities? Do you think the difference is important? Why or why non?
2. In theory, the government of the United States gets its authority from the consent of the people. What evidence tin you lot identify to show that people actually do consent to be governed by the U.s.a. government?
3. What is meant by the claim that the people have a "right of revolution"? What arguments can you brand to back up the claim that such a right does or does not exist?
4. What is a constitution? What is the difference between a constitution that establishes a constitutional government, and a constitution that does not?
5. Why did the Framers organize the government into split up branches with shared and divided powers? What are some examples of the ways in which governmental power is divided and shared? Why is this sometimes chosen a organisation of "checks and balances"?
6. Do enquiry to detect out about a state whose written constitution failed to protect the rights of the people. Why did the written constitution fail to establish a constitutional authorities in that country? What essential things were missing?

All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit educational purposes but. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies. The evolution of this text was originally funded and cosponsored by the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution. The Usa Department of Education disclaims the responsibility for whatsoever opinion or conclusions contained herein. The Federal Government reserves a nonexclusive license to use and reproduce for governmental purposes, without payment, this fabric where the government deems information technology in its interest to do so.

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Source: https://www.civiced.org/lessons/how-does-government-secure-natural-rights

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