Week 1 American Government Quiz

Desert Island Assignment

My Rights vs. Yours

"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." - Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the year he was nominated to

the Supreme Court.

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, or The Age of Reason, was a movement of European and American thinkers in the 1600s and 1700s that wanted to reform society away from irrationality, superstition, and dogmatism. Enlightenment thinkers used logic and reason to challenge ideas based on ignorance and superstition.
(To see and hear the definition of difficult words, double-click on the word).

Related to government, these thinkers included John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jeffereson, Benjamin Franklin, etc. Their major contributions to government include social contract theory and the idea of natural rights. Their ideas were used throughout Europe by kings and queens as Enlightened Absolutism, and were the central ideas in the American and French Revolutions.

Slides for Week 1

Students,

Here are the slides from this week's class. Know them! Love them! Use them to help you remember the Origins of the State and the Functions of Government.

Thanks,

Mr. Ellsworth