Civics Core 100, Goal 1
Goal 1: The learner will investigate the foundations of the
American political system and explore basic values and
principles of American democracy.
THREE REGIONS OF
COLONIES



NEW ENGLAND
MIDDLE
SOUTHERN
New England Colonies




Religious freedom
sought
Hilly, rocky soil
Shipbuilding and trade
Puritans, pilgrims
New
England
Colonies =
Blue
Middle Colonies





Bread basket colonies
Farmers: wheat and other
cash crops
Busy ports (New York and
Philadelphia) because of
foreign trade
Industries: sawmills, mines,
ironworks
Quakers(peace loving
peoples) in Philadelphia
Middle
Colonies =
Yellow
Southern Colonies



Warm climate and
long growing season
= large-scale
agriculture (tobacco)
Rice, indigo, and grain
-Cash crops
Dependent on slave
labor
Southern
Colonies =
Pink
Mercantilism


Great Britain’s policy toward the American
Colonies under George III around 1760.
Theory that a country’s power depends on its
wealth:
Sell more goods to other countries than it buys
 Favorable balance of trade: more exports, fewer
imports
 EXPORTS >IMPORTS

Triangular Trade



Brought African Slaves to America through
three part process
From molasses to rum to slaves
From southern America, from New England,
from Africa
Triangular Trade
Trip from Africa to
Americas known as
Middle Passage
Mayflower Compact

Precedent for Direct
Democracy and SelfGovernment: Every citizen
is involved



town meetings to discuss and
vote on issues of the town
Created by Pilgrims on
arrival from England
Begins New World tradition
of self-rule
House of Burgesses


In 1619 in
Jamestown, Va.
1st
representative
assembly

beginning of
selfgovernment in
the colonies
Long-Term Causes of the American
Revolution
Taxation without Representation
1.
1.
2.
The colonies had no representatives to Parliament.
Stamp Act of 1765: colonists must attach expensive stamps to all newspapers
and legal documents
Mercantilism
2.
1.
2.
Policy of Britain wanting to export more than import
Requires colonies to trade solely with Britain and provide resources.
Salutary Neglect
3.
1.
2.
Colonies had gotten use to governing themselves with little interference from
England.
This changes after the French-Indian War.
Tradition of Self-government
4.
1.
•
•
Stamp Act Congress: Oct 1765, 9 of 13 colonies sent representatives to the
Stamp Act Congress in NYC
1st time majority of colonies join together to oppose British rule
British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act
Short-Term Causes of the American
Revolution
Declaratory Act of 1766: Parliament had right to tax and make
decisions for the American colonies “in all cases”
Townshend Acts: legalize the use of writs of assistance to
assist customs officers in arresting smugglers
1.
2.
•
•
General search warrants
Enter any location to look for evidence of smuggling
March 5, 1770: Boston Massacre: British soldiers fired into a
crowd, killing 5
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Protests and Boycotts of British Policy
3.
4.
5.
1.
2.
Sons of Liberty
Committees of Correspondence
Short Term Causes of the American
Revolution continued…
“No taxation without representation!”
6. Tea Act: British East India Company gets the right to ship tea to
the colonies without paying most of the taxes usually placed on
tea


Their tea is cheaper than any other tea in the colonies
Boston Tea Party: Dec. 1773, group of angry colonists dressed as Native
Americans dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor
7. Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts: response of Britain to the
Boston Tea Party



restricted the colonists’ civil rights, including right to a trial by jury
Closed Boston Harbor
Placed Soldiers within Boston to control the port
Republic

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
FORM OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED
STATES
 OFFICIALS ELECTED BY THE POPULACE
RUN THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE



System of limited government
The people are the ultimate source of power
Representative Democracy



Citizens choose smaller group to
represent them, make laws, and
govern on their behalf
What Form of Gov’t do we
have?
Representative Democracy

U.S. is the oldest Representative
Democracy in the world
Purpose of Government





PEPP:
Provide Laws
Enforce Laws
Provide Services
Plan for the Future
Declaration of Independence


AUTHOR: Thomas Jefferson
INFLUENCES:






Enlightenment ideas
Social Contract Theory of John Locke
John Locke’s Natural Rights-Life, liberty
and property
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “All Men are
created equal”
Approved by the 2nd Continental Congress
on July 4, 1776
Included


long list of abuses by King George III and
called him a tyrant
Also included the purpose of government
(to protect the rights of the people)
Social Contract Theory



Agreement between the government and the governed:
the government and the people
Contract states that the people will follow the rules of
the government so long as the government looks out
for their best interest. When the government stops
looking out for the people, the people have a right to
abolish the government.
People agree to give up part of their freedom to a
government in exchange for protection of natural rights
Social Contract within Declaration of
Independence

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,
Constitutional Convention




1787 in Philadelphia
Purpose: To Revise the Articles of
Confederation which weren’t working
12 of 13 states attended: Rhode Island didn’t
Federalists vs. Anti-federalists
Federalists wanted to strengthen the national
government
 Anti-Federalists wanted states’ and people to
maintain the power

The Great Compromise

The two plans



Virginia Plan: representation based on states’ population
New Jersey Plan: Equal representation
The Great Compromise(Connecticut Compromise)



2 house legislature-bicameral
Senate based on equal representation(2 per state)
House of Representatives based based on states’ population
as determined by census every 10 years
The Three-Fifths Compromise

Delegates agreed that every 5 enslaved persons
would count as 3 free people

3/5 of the slave population in each state would be
used in determining representation in Congress and
for taxing purposes as well
Articles of Confederation


Our first national government in the United
States
It DID NOT WORK
WEAKNESS
No executive
RESULT
Couldn’t enforce
laws
No judiciary
Couldn’t settle
disputes
9 of 13 to pass laws Difficult to pass
legislation
First Political Parties
Democratic-Republicans
Thomas
Jefferson
Strong support in the South and West
People and states should retain as many
rights as possible
Strict construction of the Constitution to
limit the powers of the federal government
Members were made up of farmers,
frontier settlers, small shopkeepers, and
laborers.
Today’s Democratic party is a descendant
of this party
Federalists
Alexander
Hamilton
Strong support in New England
Fearful of placing too much power in the
hands of the people;tyrannical majority
Favored a strong national government
and believed in a loose construction of
the Constitution to broaden the powers of
the federal government
Believed that American’s future depended
upon the development of a balanced and
diversified economy
Well-to-do merchants, bankers, and
manufacturers