Do Now

Do you believe too much power will make one person

abusive? What about yourself?

Why?

Prepare for the vocab quiz

No vocab charts due next week!!!

Montesquieu

Objective: Explain Montesqueiu’s concept of a separation of powers and analyze its application to the U.S. government

Guiding Question: Where did we get the ideas for the U.S. government?

Agenda

Do NOW Vocab quiz Vocab quiz grading Project Intro Montesquieu notes Montesquieu reading Discussion Montesquieu Brainpop video Exit ticket-Montesquieu

Reminder

If you miss days, it is your responsibility to come in to find out what you missed

You will need to complete the classwork you missed and schedule a time to make up the exit ticket

Vocab Charts due Monday 8/19

Secede

First Great Awakening Second Great Awakening

Missouri Compromise Compromise of 1850

Kansas-Nebraska Act Dred Scott Decision Nullify Civil War

Montesquieu: Background

Montesquieu was a political thinker who lived in France During the Enlightenment

He was born in 1689 and died in 1755

Separation of Powers: His Big Idea

Montesquieu believed in a separation of powers

Separation of Powers means that the state is divided into different branches, with independent powers

No one branch can have more power than the others

Montesquieu believed deeply in

independence

Separation of Powers: His Big Idea

He believed that the government has three jobs: making laws, carrying out laws, and judging disagreements about the law

He thought these three jobs should be separated into three branches of government What are the names of

these three branches in our government today?

Connection to the U.S. Government

The U.S. government was built around this idea to prevent any one branch from becoming corrupt or getting too much power

Montesqueiu’s idea was like a balancing act

Discussion

TPS (in notes) If there is a Democratic president, a Democratic

majority in Congress, and justices selected by a Democratic president, does Separation of Powers fail?

No TPS Does Separation of Powers work better or worse with

two parties?

Can you think of a situation where not separating power might be a good thing?

Is mankind better in “medium or extremes?”

Obama and deadlock

The most recent example of a deadlock was during Obama’s first term. Healthcare, gun legislation, gay marriage etc.

First Turn, Last TurnConsidering what we have just learned about deadlocks and SoP, do you think power should be concentrated or separated among different branches? I believe power should be separated (or

concentrated) because…

PCoD

Who is GWB?

Who is being excluded?

Is this Separation of Powers as Montesquieu imagined it? Why?

Exit Ticket (5-8 sentences)

Mild option: Explain the idea of Separation of Powers. Do you think it is better to have a Separation of powers or a dictatorship? Why?

Spicy option: “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

What would Montesquieu think about this quote? Connect this quote to the idea of Separation of powers.

Exit Ticket rewrite

How are Locke and Hobbes different in terms of their views on government and its use of power. How does it connect to the state of nature. Whose views do you agree with more? Use a quotation from both Locke and

Hobbes Check to make sure you used it correctly

and followed the rules of quotations Explain your quotation

Do NOW

Should people meet a certain educational requirement to vote in our Democracy? Why or why not?

NoteTomorrow, you will work on your Political Thinkers Dialogue. Come in with an issue or event to discuss.

Daily Objective

Explain and debate the merits of Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory scoring a 2.7 or higher on an exit ticket paragraph.

Agenda

Do NOW Rousseau Notes Rousseau Reading Individual vs. Majority Video Exit Ticket

Rousseau’s State of Nature

In the state of nature, humans are blank slates, without ideas or notions of morality.

We enjoy the physical freedom of having no restraints on our behavior.

By entering into the social contract, we place restraints on our behavior, which make it possible to live in a community.

Social Contract

The Social Contract is the belief that the government only exists to serve the will of the people, and they are the source of all political power enjoyed by the government.

The will of the people as a whole gives power and direction to the state.

The Social Contract is between you and the government. You exchange natural freedoms for protection. In this case, the government consists of individuals.

A real contract?

The contract is not affirmed by each individual separately so much as it is affirmed by the group collectively. Thus, the group collectively is more important than each individual that makes it up. The sovereign and the general will are more important than its subjects and their particular wills.

Quote Analysis

“by each giving himself to all, each gives himself to nobody.”

Is it easier to corrupt an individual or a group?

Discussion

Are people truly free under the Social Contract?

What if the majority wants to take away the rights of the minority? Racism

Human Nature

Malleable ‘Where the individuals

are not corrupt, conflicts and other crises do no harm; where they are corrupt, the best planned laws are useless, unless the laws are imposed by someone who uses ruthless methods to make people obey him, until the individuals themselves become good’ (76)

‘But men change as they grow older, even if their circumstances do not’ (83)

Constant ‘Men are by nature envious’ (59) ‘Men do not feel secure in the possession of their property

unless they are constantly acquiring more’ (68) ‘for men […] are born, live, and die in the same way as

they always have done’ (73) ‘…that the world is always in the same overall condition’

(82) ‘Human appetites are insatiable. It is in man’s nature […] to

want to desire all things’ (83)