Standards:Gov.1A- explain major political ideas in history, including the laws of nature and nature's God, Unalienable rights, divine right of kings, social contract theory, and the rights of resistance to illegitimate government. 4% of ACP
Gov.1D- identify the contributions of the political philosophies of the Founding Fathers, including John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, George Mason, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson, on the development of the U.S. government. 6% of ACP |
Key Terms, Concepts, and People
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Founding Fathers
John Adams |
Served in 1st and 2nd Continental Congress, led the debate that ratified the Declaration of Independence, served as vice president for eight years under George Washington, and was elected the 2nd president of the United States in 1796. It is significant to note that he was not elected vice president; rather, he received the second most votes in the presidential election of 1788.
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A New York delegate to the Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention. He was a leading Federalist, favored strong central government, and helped write the Federalist Papers. He was the first Secretary of the Treasury, during which time he established the Mint and the National Bank. He believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution.
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Alexander Hamilton |
Thomas Jefferson |
Third president of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence. He was an Anti-Federalist and supported a strong Bill of Rights. His opposition to a strong central government led to the creation of the first political parties. He was also a delegate to the Continental Congress. He did not take part in writing the Constitution because he was in France at the time. He was the first Secretary of State, taking Benjamin Franklin’s place as Minister to France; he approved the Louisiana Purchase.
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Called the “Father of the Constitution” since his work was essential to the writing and ratification of the Constitution. One of the authors of the Federalist Papers, he supported a strong central government. He also wrote the first 12 amendments to the Constitution, 10 of which were ratified as the Bill of Rights. He was the fourth president of the United States.
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James Madison |
John Jay |
Served as Ambassador to Spain and France during and after the American Revolution, helping to shape foreign policy and securing favorable peace terms with the British. He was President of the Continental Congress from 1778-1779 and 1789-1795 and first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Hamilton and Madison, warning in four of the articles of the dangers of “foreign force and influence” on a weak central government. As Chief Justice, he established the precedent that the Court does not take positions on legislation as it is being considered when he declined a request from Alexander Hamilton to endorse a law that would have assumed the debts of the states.
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Known as the “Father of the Bill of Rights,” he was a delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention. He was the leader of those who pressed the Convention for a clear statement protecting the rights of states’ and individuals from the powerful central government; when none was included in the original document, he refused to sign it. His efforts resulted in the addition of the Bill of Rights by the first Congress, based on the earlier Virginia Declaration of Rights, authored by Mason. His Virginia Declaration of Rights was also a model for the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted in 1789.
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George Mason
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Roger Sherman
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One member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence and also helped write the Articles of Confederation. A delegate from Connecticut to the Constitutional Convention who favored protection of states’ rights, he offered what came to be called the Great Compromise or Connecticut Compromise, which broke the stalemate between large and small states over state representation in the new Congress. His compromise proposed the current two-house legislative body, with all states represented equally in the Senate and by population in the House of Representatives. He also supported electing the President by an Electoral College.
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Signer of the Declaration of Independence and twice elected to the Continental Congress, and was one of the most prominent legal scholars among the Founders. At the Constitutional Convention, he wanted representatives in Congress to be elected by popular vote. He proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person in determining how many representatives a state would be allotted in the House of Representatives, thus breaking a deadlock between slave and free states. He later served as one of the first Justices on the new Supreme Court.
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James Wilson
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Documents and Philosophies that influenced the Constitution
The Constitution
Click on the image of the Constitution to read it in its entirety.