Representative GovernmentPeople and Documents

John Locke • John Locke – European Enlightenment

philosopher; believed government is a social contract with limited powers

• Government can change • Two branches of government• Unalienable rights: life, liberty, ownership of

property

Charles de Montesquieu• expanded on Locke’s beliefs,

added the judiciary to Locke’s executive and legislature; • separation of powers; • education is an absolute

necessity

Thomas Hooker• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the first

written constitution in American Colonies and included individual rights

• democratic ideas such as elections by the people,

• people have the power to limit the power of the government,

• consent of the governed

William Blackstone• English judge, jurist, and professor • common law; religious tolerance• supported the idea of self-defense (later

became the 2nd Amendment)• “natural rights” which included life and

liberty

William Penn• he founded a colony in present day

Pennsylvania• Quakers could live according to their religious

beliefs and make political decision according to those beliefs.

• Against slavery and war

Mayflower Compact

• (1620) – an agreement that established the idea of self-government and majority rule.

• power to enact laws for the good of the colony.

• It provided a model for later development of representative government