Analytical Reading 1.1
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. Find the phrase "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" in this paragraph. Use context clues within the text to determine what Jefferson means.
"Laws of Nature" refer to the kind of rules that everyone, including governments, have had to follow throughout human history. Students may explain that by referring to "Nature's God" that Jefferson is stating that some rights are given by God.
—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. Explain one claim Jefferson makes about the purpose of government
Claim should include the idea that government's purpose is to protect the natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) of the people. Another claim might be that the people have the right of rebellion when the government fails to protect their natural rights and to form a new government.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.... ... In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.... We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved How does Jefferson use these grievances as evidence to support his claim?
Declaration as an argument for independence, look for students to identify in some way the grievances as supporting evidence that Great Britain has violated the colonists' natural rights. This supports the claim that the people have a duty to "throw off" such a governmen
Sec. 95. MEN being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent. The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against any, that are not of it. . . . When any number of men have so consented to make one community or government, they are thereby presently incorporated, and make one body politic, wherein the majority have a right to act and conclude the rest.... Sec. 131. But though men, when they enter into society, give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of Nature, into the hands of the society, to be so far disposed of by the legislative as the good of the society shall require, yet it being only with an intention in every one the better to preserve himself, his liberty and property (for no rational creature can be supposed to change his condition with an intention to be worse), the power of the society, or legislative constituted by them, can never be supposed to extend farther, than the common good, but is obliged to secure every one's property, by providing against those three defects above mentioned, that made the state of Nature so unsafe and uneasy. ... by indifferent and upright judges, who are to decide controversies by those laws; and to employ the force of the community at home only in the execution of such laws, or abroad to prevent or redress foreign injuries and secure the community from inroads and invasion. And all this to be directed to no other end but the peace, safety, and public good of the people. According to Locke, what do men give up in leaving a state of nature when they consent to be governed? What do they gain by entering into society (social contract)?
Men give up the kind of freedom to do as they wish without having to live under the "bonds of civil society," or in other words, not having to live under a government. They gain greater security (safety) for their most important rights - life, liberty, and property.
Sec. 199. As usurpation is the exercise of power which another hath a right to, so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage. When the governor, however intitled, makes not the law, but his will, the rule; and his commands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion. How does Locke's argument about tyranny compare to Jefferson's argument?
Students should note the similarities of the two men's arguments. Both define tyranny as exercising power in a way that is not legitimate, or that does not serve the public good. Both men see the purpose of government as protecting the natural rights of the people.
Sec. 6. . . . The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obliges every one, and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind . . . that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.... Every one, as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully [sic], so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and not unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another. What is Locke's claim regarding the "state of Nature" in this paragraph?
The "state of Nature" is not without any laws as there is a Law of Nature to govern the behavior of men in this condition.
whenever the legislators endeavour to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence. ... by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and by the establishment of a new legislative (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own safety and security, which is the end for which they are in society. What does Locke argue is the consequence when government threatens the rights of the people?
They forfeit, or give up, the power the people granted them and that power returns to the people who may then form a new government to better preserve their rights to safety and property.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. According to Jefferson, under what conditions are the people justified in throwing off a government?
When a government abuses the rights of people or seeks to oppress them ("reduce them under absolute Despotism"), the people have a duty or responsibility to revolt and form a new government.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation Highlight or underline the phrase in this paragraph that explains why Jefferson wrote this document.
declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. What does the text on this page tell us about Jefferson's perspective on government?
development of Jefferson's idea of popular sovereignty -- people create governments by their consent and can withdraw their consent when a government abuses their natural rights.
A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty. According to Locke, what could set one man above another?
idea that it may be the will of God that sets one person apart -—something that speaks to a "manifest declaration" of God's will. This idea is revisited as Locke has already argued against the divine right of kings theory in his First Treatise
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.... ... In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.... We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved Here, Jefferson names a series of grievances or complaints against the King. How does this list relate to Jefferson's earlier assertions about the nature and purpose of government?
make the connection by expressing that the purpose and nature of government is that it governs by the consent of the people and is charged with protecting natural rights. This list provides evidence that Great Britain is violating those rights.
—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. Describe one characteristic of government that Jefferson mentions.
the idea that government gets its powers from the people or by the "consent of the governed." This introduces the idea of popular sovereignty as an underlying principle of our government.
Sec. 4. To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man. According to Locke, what is the natural state of men?
this condition is one of absolute freedom, in which people can do what they want within the limits of the law of nature. Another way of putting this idea is that this was the state people were in prior to the development of government
