Enlightenment Thinkers Facebook Group Activity

Enlightenment Thinkers Facebook Group Activity

Think- Pair- Share

AKA

Research-Group work-Share to the class

EQ: Which Enlightenment Thinkers influenced the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution?

*Remember: the Declaration of Independence is a rough draft for the Constitution.

Goal: You will understand how the thoughts of these 5 people influenced how our government is shaped today.

Materials on your desk grouping: textbook, FB worksheet (when ready), this helpful sheet, pencil, scrap paper, info sheet on your thinker, 2 foldables from class, and your group #.

What we are doing: Your group will be assigned one of the 5 Enlightenment Thinkers that we will be studying. Please research and fill out the FB worksheet. You need:

    Information: their name, where they are from, time they lived, & what they wrote (from your foldable)

    Likes: what type/ form of government does your group think that your thinker would like from our forms/ types of government unit.

    “Status” Section: you need 8 status’ that are well researched and about their thoughts on how government should be run. There are examples at the back of the room, but you may not use them. Please research first on your scrap paper from your textbook and reading through the helpful sheet that I have provided (what you are reading).

    Ad: create 2 mini ads on what they would advertise for a GREAT Government! Example: “Join our Government: Where the People come first”

You will get your FB paper once you have shown me that on your scrap paper you have all above boxes. Make sure all your names go on the back of your FB worksheet in pencil so that it doesn’t mess up the front where all your great work is.

Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments…derive their powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government

Preamble of the Constitution (the first paragraph): We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity (future), do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Influences of the Thinkers:

John Locke (Group 1)

Textbook: 88-89, 97, 103, 104

1.     Declaration of Independence

2.     Preamble to the United States Constitution

3.     Representative Government (Republic)

4.     Limits on governmental power

Montesquieu (Group 2)

Textbook: 89, 138

1.     Separation of power

2.     Branches of Government (Legislative, Executive, Judicial)

3.     Checks and Balances

Rousseau (Group 3)

Textbook: 89, 105

1.     Public election of Congress and President

2.     Preamble to the United States Constitution

3.     The Social Contract

Voltaire (Group 4)

1.     Bill of rights – Freedom of speech, expression, religion

Hobbes (Group 5)

1.     Rights: People agree to be ruled because the ruler pledges to protect their rights

2.     Rights are God given: The idea of “unalienable rights”

3.     Impeaching: If the government is not doing its job, “it is their [the citizens] right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security” (Dec. of Ind.)

Helpful Vocab for today:

    Checks & Balances: a syste which each branch of government is able to check, or restrain, the power of others (p. 139)

    Impeach: to accuse government officials of misconduct in office (aka not doing their job right) (p. 206)

    Social Contract: an agreement among people in a society with a government (p. 88)

    Preamble: the opening section to the Constitution (p. 130)

    Bill of Rights: the first ten amendments (things we felt we needed to add to the constitution)

1.         Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Petition

2.         Right to keep and bear arms

3.         Conditions for quarters of soldiers

4.         Right of search and seizure regulated

5.         Provisions concerning prosecution

6.         Right to a speedy trial, witnesses, etc.

7.         Right to a trial by jury

8.         Excessive bail, cruel punishment

9.         Rule of construction of Constitution

10.         Rights of the States under Constitution

    Unalienable Rights: Governments do not give people rights. Rights are God given. People have rights because they are human. Not because someone gave rights to them.

    Separation of power: the split of authority among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, so that no one branch gets to be too big or too powerful. They each have their own “jobs”. (p. 138)

    Representatives: people whom the citizens have elected on their behalf (p. 74, 85)