Chapter 3 - Lockean Liberty Flashcards
(24 cards)
Whig party
This was practically England’s first political party, organized in opposition to the king
“Second Treatise of Government”
John Locke’s work arguing that political authority comes from the people, not God or precedent.
The 5 points of John Locke’s treatise
- In a state of nature, there is no government (all have the same rights if they do not impose on others
- Men create a social contract (with no divine mandate; gov is a human invention serving a human purpose)
- Gov’s only job is to protect people’s’ natural rights
- Government exists by the consent of the governed
- If gov violates the social contract, the people have the right and duty to revolt
Glorious revolution
After the Second Treatise was written, the English bloodlessly expelled their king from the country; William of orange and his wife Mary were invited to be joint monarchs subject to parliament making it clear that monarchs could rule only by the consent of the people; considered a true founding
Lockean freedom
Government literally was created by the people and rights were natural and fundamental (life, liberty and property)
The Rule of Law
Meta legal principles determining whether or not a law supports freedom - (5 principles)
Natural law
The law that classical Greeks believed resided in the human heart and reflects our innate sense of right and wrong (moral law - if followed, natural law would protect natural rights)
Ex: if there is a natural right to life, there is a natural law against taking of life
Natural rights
Fundamental rights granted by nature that government cannot abrogate and which government is bound to protect
Common law
Law that is considered to be from natural law principles framed in precedents set by earlier courts; primary form of law in England.
Rule of Law: generality
When laws are made they must apply to broad categories of people and must not single out individuals or groups for special treatment
Rule of Law: prospectivity
Laws must apply to future action and not past action
Rule of Law: publicity
Laws must be known and certain such that everyone knows if their existence and their enforcement is reasonably reliable
Rule of Law: consent
Laws must be generally acceptable to those who must live by them
Rule of Law: due process
When laws are applied they must be administered impartially - “justice is blind”
The Boston Tea Party
The rule of law (consent) was violated because those being taxed were not represented in parliament which was slowed to make laws for the colonists. This is part of what sparked the American Revolution
French and Indian War
Britain and her colonies fought the French with their respective native allies; the French were defeated thereby solidifying British control of North America.
Montesquieu
French political thinker who favored the British systems of rule and the idea of separation of powers, wrote “The Spirit of the Laws” arguing for the genius of British institutions on every page
Commonwealth ideology
Whig writers developed this alternative approach to the problem of preserving Liberty; The “country party” had the best strategy and opportunity to preserve Liberty against the “court party”
Court party (Tories)
English royal court and center of British political power; characterized by corruption and subversion
Country party
English opposition to the court party consisting of every day citizens: considered morally independent with pure motives and
John Adams
Believed in rule of law importance which led him to defend the British soldiers involved in the Boston massacre; his defense demonstrated to the world that the colonists were civilized and could therefore govern themselves
Separation of powers
Dividing powers of government between the separate branches
The Boston Massacre
Five colonists were killed when British soldiers fired into a rioting mob. British soldiers were accused of murdering colonists but Adams defended them (because of his belief in the rule of law) saying that the soldiers had fired from agitation
John Locke
He was the secretary to Lord Shaftsbury who began organizing opposition to the king politically; Developed a pair of treatises that addressed the question of rulers and their claims to authority and whether the doctrine of divine right was valid.
