John Locke and Constitutional Questions

1. How much do you know about the Constitution?
1. Who is the major author or father of the Declaration of Independence?
2. What are the three branches of government?
3. What are the three levels of government?
4. Who is the major author or father of the Constitution?
5. How many Senators are there?
6. Who are your United States Senators?
7. How many Representatives are there?
8. Who is your United States Representative?
9. In which body of Congress do the following bills begin or get passed by?
a. Finance?
b. Treaties and Approval of presidential appointments?
10. When will the next census be?
11. What is the name of the highest court in the USA?
12. How many justices are on this court?
13. What is the head justice called?
14. Who is this head justice?
15. What are the people called who actually choose the President of the United States?
16. What do they belong to?
17. How many of their votes must the president get to be elected?
18. The First Amendment has the broadest rights listed in it. Can you think of any?
19. Second Amendment?
20. When people take the Fifth (Amendment), what does that mean?
21. The 18th
and 21st
Amendments involved a social experiment that failed. What was it?
22. How many amendments are there?
23. Constitution Day must be at least mentioned in local schools, it is a federal mandate. Why might that
mandate be unconstitutional?
24. There are two major political parties. What are they?
25. Who are possible candidates for president and vice-president for the two major parties?

2. Locke's Political Philosophy - Tuckness, Alex, "Locke's Political Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/locke-political/>.
John Locke (1632–1704) is among the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Two
Treatises of Government, he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that God
had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. He argued that people have rights, such as the right to life,
liberty, and property, that have a foundation independent of the laws of any particular society. Locke used the
claim that men are naturally free and equal as part of the justification for understanding legitimate political
government as the result of a social contract where people in the state of nature conditionally transfer some of
their rights to the government in order to better insure the stable, comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty,
and property. Since governments exist by the consent of the people in order to protect the rights of the people
and promote the public good, governments that fail to do so can be resisted and replaced with new governments.
Locke is thus also important for his defense of the right of revolution. Locke also defends the principle of
majority rule and the separation of legislative and executive powers. In the Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke
denied that coercion should be used to bring people to (what the ruler believes is) the true religion and also
denied that churches should have any coercive power over their members. Locke elaborated on these themes in
his later political writings, such as the Second Letter on Toleration and Third Letter on Toleration.
1. The Law of Nature and State of Nature – everyone is born with certain, unalienable rights. These
rights universally recognized. Locke included life, liberty and property. Existence without
government is something many philosophers believe is close to anarchy while Locke believed it
possible that natural rights were respected without government enforcement due to “reason.” 3.
Property – Material goods that are produced with labor are owned and therefore property. 4. Consent,
Political Obligation, and the Ends of Government – Conflict eventually rose amongst the people, so a
government was formed. This government had their permission to “rule” on matters of conflict so that
issues are dealt with in a civil way. Government’s main concern is protection of natural rights and to
serve as an arbitrator. 5. Locke and Punishment – Two kinds of punishment exist – backwards
and forwards. Backward punishment seeks vengeance or payback. Forward looking rectifies a
situation, ensures public safety and deters future crimes. Locke argued in favor of forward looking
punishment that is carried out by the government. In a state of nature, people carried out their own
punishments, but that also meant they took the role of police, jury, judge and executioner. This is a
bad combination. In order to avoid this prejudice, the government punishes. 6. Separation of Powers
and the Dissolution of Government – People are naturally greedy for power, love, and material wealth.
No one person is trusted to make, carry out, or interpret laws. Therefore, it is wise to have separate
branches that have their own duty, which is an equal partner in the law. If a government ever becomes
too powerful and tramples the rights of humankind, the people have a right to destroy that government.
7. Toleration – Everyone has different political and religious beliefs. No one has a true understanding
of the beliefs of others. If we attempt to enforce our own beliefs on the rest of the people, they are
bound to chafe, become restless and rebellious. Enforcing religious or political absolutism amongst the
people will create more problems than it solves.