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Read:
D & Z 2
EReading:
Schuman
U. S. Constitution
Declaration
of Independence
Articles of Confederation
A
Brief History of the Constitutional Convention of 1787
Voices
of the Framers
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We are now going
to explore the basic structural document of American government -- The U.S.
Constitution. As you will see below, we are going to be exploring the
Constitution from a number of perspectives. As part of the "great
concepts" approach, we are going to be looking at our constitution in
comparison to one from another country.
The first thing we need to do is explore some of the social, religious,
philosophical, historical and economic factors that influenced the
development of the U.S. Constitution
1) the
individuals and their attitudes
young, wealthy, well-educated, protestant and male
from agricultural or mercantile areas
children of "The
Enlightenment"
infatuated with the notion of "science" (the first social
scientists!!)
2)
protestantism
self-reliance
not obligated to temporal rulers
the notion of covenant
3) the
philosophical ideas of the time
Hobbes,
Locke
(1), (2),
Rousseau
"the nature of man"
rights
social
contract
4)
the historical forces
America as colony
the American Revolution
European revolutions
the Articles of Confederation
the experience with state governments
Shays' Rebellion
5) the
economic context
adjustment after the revolution
competition between the states
no national currency
stay laws
Shays' Rebellion
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Thinking Comparatively:
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Our Constitution sets up a particular
relationship between people and the state and between institutions
of government. Other systems can set up a different set of
relationships. Let's look at another one!
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 To
access the 1982 Constitution of the Turkish Republic, click: here
"Part 2:
Fundamental Rights and Duties"
Why do you
think the Turkish Constitution spends so much time detailing these
rights and responsibilities?
Where are US
citizens' rights listed?
Their
responsibilities?
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Questions to
Ponder:
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Rights vs. Responsibilities
While most Americans
talk a lot about their "rights", there is no mention of
"responsibilities" in the U. S. Constitution. If
citizenship entails having certain "rights", shouldn't
it also entail some "responsibilities"? While reading D
and Z, Schuman, and thinking about the lectures, ponder the
following:
1) Did the Founding Fathers intentionally leave out
"responsibilities"? (Shuman would argue that they
did!). If they did, what messages were the Founders trying to
send?
1a) The Bill of Rights
are amendments to the original document! What do you think this
says about the Founding Fathers' attitudes towards rights?
2) How do the notions
of rights and responsibilities fit into each of the three
theories? Would the rights and responsibilities be different for
each of the three theories?
3) When you look at
the Turkish Constitution's Part 2 what do you think of their
rights and responsibilities?
4) If the Founding
Fathers had included these in the Constitution (or as part of
the amendments) how might it have changed the actions of our
national government?
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