| A | B |
|---|
| Influences in the Costitution | British System, Enlightenment Philosophers |
| British System | Parliament - elected people who make laws |
| Who were the enlightenment philosophers? | Machiavelli, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Voltaire |
| Machiavelli | said power does corrupt you, human weakness leads to humans to take other's rights, gvt. must protect rights and if not, they should be booted |
| John Locke | said all men have the right to life, liberty, and property |
| what did John Locke write? | The Second Treatis on Government |
| Montesquieu | said corruption can be avoided by separating power |
| Volataire | said people should have a right to free speech |
| Precepts of Democracy | majority rules, minority rights, rights to free speech, religion, assembly, equality |
| majority rules | expressed in free elections |
| minority rights... | minority rights to protect individuals against tyranny of majority |
| equality | equality before the law |
| How to prevent Tyranny | sep. of power & checks & bal, federalism, bill of rights, Judicial Review, Sep. of church & state, republicanism |
| checks and balances | each brance has legal control over eachother |
| sep. of power | gives each branch power |
| federalism | some powers to national gvt and som powers to state gvt |
| bill of rights | original rights |
| Judicial Review | gives supreme court a power to shut down |
| republicanism | looked at common man w/ disdain; distrusted common man; elec. college |
| electoral college | wise-intelligent common man |
| Who interprets the constitution? | Judiciary |
| Marbury vs. Madison | court gave itself right to interpret laws |
| Judicial Review | court can declare laws unconstitutional |
| How to interpret Constitution: | Strict construction, Loose construction |
| Strict Construction (Judicial Restraint) | judges should interpret const. to reflect what founders intended and what the words literally say |
| Loose Construction (Judical Activists) | interpret to reflect current conditions and values |
| Why do we have Govt? | 1. establish justice 2. ensure domestic tran. 3. provide common def. 4. promote gen. wel. 5 secure the blessings of lib. |
