Week 2, Question 2

6/23/2014

Read Ch 6-8 (49 – 73) and answer the following questions/statements:

Using the Declaration as your source, in your own words describe the principles of good government. Where did the founders get these ideas? Do you think these principles are valid today? Why or why not?

Aiden

6/25/2014 10:29:14 pm

A good government is one that does not have a supreme ruler that wants to have everything. The founders did NOT want one person having total control or total power. The founders got this idea because they did not want to be like Britain, who had a king. I think that these thoughts are still practical, because a king would not do different things because of an era. For example, Kim Jong Un is one of today's leaders, and he does what he wants.

Devyn

6/27/2014 01:22:03 pm

I feel an important principle of a good government would be to protect the citizens. Not only protecting them physically, but also protecting their rights. It's important to always feel safe, especially in your own country. This idea came from Parliament. That was one of the many jobs performed. This is very valid today. This is one of the main purposes of governments; to protect the citizen's natural rights!

Devyn

6/27/2014 01:23:46 pm

I agree with you Aiden. One of the main points of government was shared power. A dictatorship just won't cut it at all. The power wouldn't be shared in any kind of way. This was part if the reason they moved from Britain! There's no way they'd go and do something similar on their own, it would be pointless.

Clara

6/29/2014 05:03:17 am

Many of the principles of good government are contained in the Declaration of Independence. Some of these are:
• All men (and women) are created equal and have basic rights based on natural law
• Constitutions or governments cannot violate natural law
• If the government violates the people’s natural rights (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), people have the right to take back their rights from the government and institute a new one
• No taxation without representation. The colonies were not represented in the Parliament, therefore, Parliament did not have the right to tax the colonists

The colonists got these ideas from John Locke and other philosophers as well as the colonists (no taxation without representation). I think we still use these principles in government today. For example, people still have the right to life, liberty and property. Also, people can still vote their representatives out of office.

Lucy

7/4/2014 02:44:37 am

The Declaration of Independence describes many of the colonists views of good government. Such as Natural Rights, Higher Law, the rights of all men, Representative government, and the right of the people to abolish governments that do not protect these rights.
Natural Rights are the rights endowed to us that can't be taken away. They are the rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson go the idea of Natural rights from John Locke.
The rest of the good ideas of government came form documents like the Magna Carta, past experiences, and previous British laws that worked and did not work.
These principles are still valid today because they are simple, fair, basic rights.

lucy

7/4/2014 02:47:33 am

I agree with Aiden that the founders wanted a government with multiple branches and evenly spread power.

lucy

7/4/2014 02:50:31 am

I agree with Devyn that protecting the citizens is very important. Whether it be their rights, or their well being.

Sarah

7/8/2014 11:05:45 am

A good government treats their citizens equally, giving rights that cannot be taken away, including natural rights. The citizens can impeach representatives and other members in the government. The Founders got these when writing the Declaration of Independence from John Locke, other philosophers, even inspiration from the Magna Carta. I think that not all of the rights are still valid today. There are some valid like everyone having natural rights, and being able to impeach those who are not doing good for society. However not every man is being treated equally today, people are still not being treated equally, by race, religion, sex, etc.

Sarah

7/8/2014 11:13:26 am

I respectfully disagree to what Lucy, our rights are not simple, in Britain 1215, the Magna Carta was created, which helped influence the Declaration of Independence. It might be simple and basic now, but it also is easy to become corrupt with power, which was why the nobles had to find a way to be treated a lot more equally. The only reason it's easier today is because we do not have a monarch, and we can impeach our president if he becomes too corrupt.

Clara

7/8/2014 11:22:44 pm

Equality is subjective to whoever is ruling at the time. Historically, minority groups suffer when the majority is in control. When the minority group is in control, the majority suffers. I disagree with Sarah's statement that today we treat people differently than the founders did back then. We still have equality issues to be fixed, because they weren't given to everyone equally back then or today.

Congress passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919, and ratified it on August 18, 1920, guaranteeing all American women the right to vote. If anything, we are getting closer to equality; we are just not there yet.

Clara

7/8/2014 11:30:58 pm

The rights defined in the Constitution are not all simple or basic because we disagree and have different opinions in country as diverse as ours. The Supreme Court is there to help us settle our disagreements with laws, whether they are just or unjust laws.

Joe

7/9/2014 05:08:20 am

A good government gives equal justice to all people of whatever religious belief, sex, or race. Our founders believed that all men are created equally. The statement is in The Declaration of Independence itself. They got this idea from Thomas Jefferson the slave market with the Declaration. Even though it wasn't until 20 years after The Declaration of Independence. I do believe these principles are valid today due to the fact that there should be no segregation.

Claire

7/14/2014 04:23:41 am

The Declaration of Independence talked about many principles of good government. One is that all men are created equal and have basic rights. These rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Another principle of good government that the Declaration of Independence talks about is if the people are not granted those basic rights, they have the right to put an end to their government and start a new one. A good government also needs shared power. If you give all the power to one person or one branch of government it's not going to be a good government. The founders got the ideas for these principles and many more from many things. They got ideas from John Locke, the Magna Carta, British government, past experiences, and from the colonists. I think these principles are still valid today. We still have the rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Our government is a democracy so we don't just have one person in charge. These principles are still valid today and I think they will be for a long time to come because they are our basic rights and they are fair.

Claire

7/14/2014 04:27:10 am

I agree with Devyn. I also believe that to have a good government you have to protect the rights of the citizens. It is important to not only protect our basic rights but all of our rights. Our basic rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and I think those are very important to protect.

Claire

7/14/2014 04:33:55 am

I agree with Aiden. I agree that an important part of having a good government is splitting up the power. If there is only one person in control, they can do whatever they want and they may do things that aren't fair or are unconstitutional .

Gabriella

7/18/2014 07:08:01 am

For good government to exist, there must be a contract between the government and the people, if the government breaks any part of the contract, the people have a right to overthrow the government. The natural rights of the people must be respected no matter what. The Declaration of Independence also states that all men are created equal, and must be treated that way. Some of these ideas came from the Magna Carta and other British traditions, but some were made by people like John Locke.

All of these ideas are most definitely still valid today. The idea of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the ability to overthrow the government, nothing has changed to make it so these would become invalid. And while we may have made certain amendments to other ideas, the vast majority of the principles in the Declaration of Independence have stayed the same.

Luke Menser

7/20/2014 09:51:25 am

I bealive the principles are
A government that is trustworthy and responsible for all members,
A government that is present and flexible,
A forward looking government,
A stable and secure government.

I bealive theese principles are still valid today and our country is doing a good job of splitting up the power in the government because to me that is the most important thing, I don't know about you guys but I don't want a dictatorship in The United State. I think the four founders didn't want this either...

Jordan

7/29/2014 05:02:12 am

The principles of government that the founders thought of for the declaration was that all men were created equalm and all men have the same natural rights. The natural rights that they had were the rights to life, the rights to liberty, and the rights to the pursuit of happiness. The reason they had these ideas was becuase of the government in England. They did not like the government there so they decided to make it different. I believe that the first idea that all men are created equal is not valid today. I say this because what they meant by that back then, is not what it means today. Back then it meant all white men with property were created equal and had the the natural rights. Today it means every citizen of the untided states.

Jordan

7/29/2014 05:21:42 am

I disagree with Claire. I believe that the principles are technically not valid today. What they meant bcak then is not what it means today. So basically they are not the same principles.

Jordan

7/29/2014 05:25:50 am

I agree with Aiden. The founders did not want a supreme ruler who is in control of every little thing. So thats why they had ideas that were "opposite" from the government in England.

Justin

8/2/2014 02:06:30 am

One of the principles of good government were that all people are equal. No matter what sex, race, or believes; which comes from the natural rights of life and liberty. And these principles are clearly valid today because their isn't much discrimination.

Elijah S.

8/2/2014 11:39:09 am

I think a part of a good government is equal power. The founders did not want one person to have complete control over everybody. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

Elijah S.

8/2/2014 11:40:48 am

I agree with Aiden. The founders did not want one person to control everybody and everything. They were aiming for more equality in the power of the government.

Elijah S.

8/2/2014 11:42:50 am

I agree with Devyn. One of the main priorities of a government should be to protect the citizens whether it's the rights or their well being.

Noah

8/3/2014 07:35:22 am

I feel the main principles of a good government are to protect the people's rights and create laws that prevent citizens' rights from being violated.

The founders got these idea from being under Britain's control and having their rights violated by the King.

I feel that they principles are valid today. One of the main focus of our government today is to protect our rights.

Chelsea

8/3/2014 11:04:58 am

I believe good government, protects your rights, and keeps you safe. They do their best to make your life the best it can be, in a general sense.

They founders pulled idea's from several different places. They didn't like how they were being treated so they changed that, to the best of their abilities.

I think these principles are great. They protect and serve us to the best of their abilities. Even for being a few hundred years later.

Isabelle

8/3/2014 11:49:40 am

In the Declaration of Independence, the founders wrote about good principles of government. They believed that all men are born equal, and that we all have the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These ideas came from John Locke. The founders stated that the purpose of government is to protect our natural rights and that a good government does that. A good government should also be constitutional and use checks and balances and separation of powers. It should also be governed by the people. Some of these ideas came from study the republican government of Ancient Rome. I do not think that anything has changed to make these principles invalid today.

Sophia

8/7/2014 12:58:47 pm

I believe a good government protects their citizens' rights. The government needs to ensure that their citizens' property and freedom is not blemished. They should also make sure that every citizen is protected from harm from other citizens and other countries. A government must not abuse their responsibility to their people. These ideas came from John Locke's Two Treatises of Government. All of the principles in the Declaration of Independence are valid today because the country still believes in the values the Framers put in the Declaration.

Week 2, Question 2

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