LESSON 2:
DEVELOPING REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
Historic Ideas About Individual Rights
Historical Period
Ideas about the individual
and individual rights
Historical Period
• Stressed harmony between the
individual and society.
Middle Ages
• Individual existed for the good of society
and each person’s role was defined by
membership in a group.
Reformation
• All individuals seen as equals in the
eyes of God.
• Each person was to be respected and
held accountable as an individual.
• No concept of “natural” rights belonging
to all the people. Few individual rights.
Renaissance
• Increased interest in the rights of
individuals.
• Individuals began to reexamine their
relationships to religious institutions
and governments.
• Emphasized the direct relationship
between the individual believer and God,
leading to the increased importance of
the individual.
• Encouraged freedom of conscience.
• Rights and duties were defined in terms
of the group. Rights were seen as
privileges belonging to particular groups.
• In many areas of life, emphasis was
placed on the individual rather than the
group into which that individual had
been born.
Ideas about the individual
and individual rights
Rise of
NationState
Rise of
Capitalism
CHAPTER 2: FOUNDATIONS OF THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM
• People began to think of themselves as
citizens of a particular state.
• Citizens possessed both public rights
and public duty.
• People gained freedom to choose their
occupations, start businesses, and own
property.
• People had more control over their lives.
• People began to pay more attention to
their private interests than to the
common good.
Process Phase