The Enlightenment Anticipation Guide
Directions: Read each statement twice: once before the lesson and once after.
Write T in the box if you believe the statement is true or F if you think the statement is false.
Response
Before Lesson
Claim
Response
After Lesson
People should be happy with their social and economic places in life,
not try to change them
Human beings are naturally good
All people are products of the environments in which they grew up
The purpose of a government is to protect people from each other
Most people are not smart enough to know what is best for society
Human beings cannot be trusted to govern themselves
Democracy is the best form of government
Society corrupts human beings
Human beings are not capable of self-government
Strict rules are necessary for maintaining order in society
Men and women should be treated differently
1. Which of the claims above do you agree with the most before the lesson? Why?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Which of the claims above do you disagree with the most before the lesson? Why?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. How did your opinion change as a result of the lesson? If not, why not?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Analyzing Primary Sources
Directions: Read the following primary sources. Respond to each question and provide evidence from the
document for each response. Evidence is an exact quote or specific description of the document. Use a
highlighter or colored pencil to mark up each document.
For as long as every man holdeth this right, of doing anything he
liketh; so long are all men in the condition of war. But if other
men will not lay down their right, as well as he, then there is no
reason for anyone to divest [divest (v.) remove; cast off] himself
of his: for that were to expose himself to prey….
— Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan, 1651
According to Hobbes, why should men give up their
rights?
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or
give me death!
---Patrick Henry March 23, 1775.
Which man do you agree with more? Why?
What rights, if any, would you give up to stay safe?
Explain.
Why does Patrick Henry think that this idea is
unacceptable?
(1) the English Church shall be free, and shall have its
rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired.
(38) In future no official shall place a man on trial
upon his own unsupported statement, without
producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.
(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or
stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or
exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way,
nor will we proceed with force against him, or send
others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his
equals or by the law of the land.
(63) IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND
that the English Church shall be free, and that men in
our kingdom shall have and keep all these liberties,
rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their
fulness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us
and our heirs, in all things and all places for ever.
--Magna Carta 1215
King John of England was forced by the nobility to sing
the Magna Carta or Great Charter that acknowledged
the rights of the nobles and limited royal power.
What do provisions #38 and #39 have in common?
What do provisions #1 and #63 have in common?
Which of the provisions do you think is the most
important? Why?
Summarize the following provisions of the English Bill of Rights
in your own words.
1. That the pretended power of suspending laws,
or the execution of laws, by regal authority,
without consent of parliament is illegal.
5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition
the king, and all commitments and prosecutions
for such petitioning are illegal...
1.
5.
8. That election of members of parliament ought
to be free.
8.
9. That the freedom of speech,... ought not to be
impeached or questioned in any court of place
out of parliament.
9.
Compare the Magna Carta and English Bill of Rights and discuss how these documents established limits to create a
constitutional monarchy in England. How do you think these documents influenced the writers of the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of the United States? Provide evidence (quote) from each of the documents to
support your answer.
Consider the following terms in your response: Absolute Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, Limited Government,
Rule of Law, Natural Rights.