Term
| The English Bill of Rights |
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Definition
The Bill of Rights is an Act of the Parliament of England passed on 16 December 1689. It was a restatement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by theConvention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 (or 1688 by Old Style dating), inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England. It lays down limits on the powers of the crown and sets out the rights of Parliament and rules for freedom of speech in Parliament, the requirement for regular elections to Parliament and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. It reestablished the liberty of Protestants to have arms for their defence within the rule of law, and condemned James II of England for "causing several good subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when papistswere both armed and employed contrary to law". |
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Term
| How does Parliament justify revolution? |
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Definition
| In the English Bill of Rights, Parliament rejected the rule of King James II in favor of William & Mary based apon a series of abuses they claim the king committed against the historic rights of Englishmen. This list of abuses was the justification that Parliament stated for their revolution. |
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Term
| What does the Bill of Rights portend for the idea of kingship? |
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Definition
| The Bill of Rights portended to end "the divine right of kings", claiming that a kings power no longer comes from god but from Parliament instead. |
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Term
| How can we characterize the rights to which the Bill of Rights alludes? Are they human rights? Are they something else? |
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Definition
| The rights characterized by the English Bill of Rights alluded only to English male protistants, they were not human rights but instead natural rights. |
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Term
| What was the signifigance of the English Bill of Rights for William & Mary? |
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Definition
| Following Britain's bloodless Glorious Revolution, Mary, the daughter of the deposed king, and William of Orange, her husband, were proclaimed joint sovereigns of Great Britain under Britain's new Bill of Rights. |
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Term
| What was the signifigance of the English Bill of Rights for the future of Britain's empire? |
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Definition
| The ideological rights proposed in the English Bill of Rights later became the foundational justification for the American Revolution's Declaration of Independence. |
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Term
| The Declaration of Independence (1776) |
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Definition
| The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation—the United States of America. |
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Term
| The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) |
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Definition
| The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted in 1777 (though it was not first introduced into the Virginia General Assembly until 1779) by Thomas Jefferson in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1786, the Assembly enacted the statute into the state's law. The statute disestablished the Church of England in Virginia and guaranteed freedom of religion to people of all religious faiths, including Catholics and Jews as well as members of all Protestant denominations. The Statute for Religious Freedom is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson instructed be put in his epitaph. |
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Term
| Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen |
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Definition
| The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, or Declaration of Human and Civic Rights (French: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen) is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. |
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Term
| How does the Declaration of Independence justify revolution? |
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Definition
| The Declaration of Independence justifies revolution by listing how the people had not been protected or given freedom of speech, religion, or fair laws and were being taxed without representation. |
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Term
How does the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom attempt reconcile elected legislators’ duty to represent their constituents by making laws voters demand, and citizens’ freedom from laws that restrict their religious liberties?
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Definition
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Term
What does the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen have in common with the other documents you’ve read so far—and how is it different? |
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Definition
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Term
PREAMBLE and BILL OF RIGHTS of the U.S. CONSTITUTION (1787-1791)
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Definition
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Term
What is the basis and the purpose of government? |
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Definition
| The purpose of government is to create a system to govern a community, form a more perfect union , establish justice, provide common defense, secure freedom, promote general welfare & insure domestic tranquility. |
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Term
Are proper government powers limited or extensive? |
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Definition
| Proper government powers are limited with a proper check and balance system. |
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Term
How does the American Bill of Rights of 1791 compare with England’s of 1689?
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Definition
| In both documents governments are instituted among men to to protect natural rights, but the people do no surrender control of their government. |
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Term
The NIAGARA MOVEMENT: DECLARATION of PRINCIPLES (1905)
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Definition
| The members of the conference, known as the Niagara Movement, assembled in annual meeting at Buffalo, July 11th, 12th and 13th, 1905, congratulate the Negro-Americans on certain undoubted evidences of progress in the last decade, particularly the increase of intelligence, the buying of property, the checking of crime, the uplift in home life, the advance in literature and art, and the demonstration of constructive and executive ability in the conduct of great religious, economic and educational institutions. |
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Term
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION of HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)
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Definition
| It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws. |
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Term
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
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Definition
| First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth and is today a fundamental work in classical economics. Through reflection over the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolutionthe book touches upon broad topics as the division of labour, productivity and free markets. |
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Term
According to Smith, why do markets tend to grow in scale and productivity? |
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Definition
| Division of labor (pin production facroty analogy. Expansion, specialization of skill and factory production. |
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Term
What aspects of human society would tend to obstruct the smooth operation of free markets?
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Definition
| The fact that government favors the employer, or the master over the laborer. |
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Term
What is the basis of wealth? |
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Definition
| Free trade, labor theory of value, i.e. turning a log into a chair. |
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Term
How are wages determined? |
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Definition
| The minimum amount of resources to survive. |
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Term
Why does free trade tend to create more wealth than regulated trade? |
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Definition
| Free trade market creates more wealth by allowing for expansion of industry. |
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Term
What kinds of people would welcome the ideas Smith proposed? |
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Definition
| Liberals, i.e. advocates of free trade. |
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Term
Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth” (1889)
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Definition
| an article written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889[4] that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. Carnegie proposed that the best way of dealing with the new phenomenon of wealth inequality was for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner. This approach was contrasted with traditional bequest (patrimony), where wealth is handed down to heirs, and other forms of bequest e.g. where wealth is willed to the state for public purposes. Carnegie argued that surplus wealth is put to best use (i.e. produces the greatest net benefit to society) when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. Carnegie also argues against wasteful use of capital in the form of extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence. As a result, the wealthy should administer their riches responsibly and not in a way that encourages "the slothful, the drunkard, the unworthy." |
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Term
How does Carnegie justify extreme inequality of wealth?
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Definition
| The extremely wealth can be patrons of the arts. Also, he says that if one is wealthy it is their divine right to be so. |
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Term
What social values underlie Carnegie’s idea? What other ideas influenced Carnegie? |
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Definition
| That a wealthy individual would spend their wealth for the good of all mankind. |
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Term
How compatible are Carnegie’s ideas with those of embedded in the documents you’ve read about rights? |
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Definition
| Very compatible, his free capitalist ideologies pay great tribute to all documents pertaining to human rights. |
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Term
What would be the implications of the Gospel of Wealth for democracy? |
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Definition
| That democracy would have to be spread worldwide in order for capitalist free trade to have to greatest effect. |
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Term
Ludwig von Mises, “Inequality of Wealth and Incomes” (1955) |
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Definition
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Term
How does von Mises defend inequality?
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Definition
| Consumers control quality of the market through purchasing habits. |
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Term
| Who guides the free market? |
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Definition
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Term
Why is the quest for equality destructive? |
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Definition
| The equivalent of if everyone got a silver medal. |
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Term
What would von Mises say to Carnegie? |
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Definition
| It is your weath that you deserve, but do with it as you please. |
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Term
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) |
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Definition
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Term
To what extent is the Manifesto an attempt to apply natural laws to social conditions? |
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Definition
| Not as individual rights but as rights of the community. |
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Term
How do Marx and Engels extend their analysis beyond politics and economics, and
into other social realms?
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Definition
| By the exploration of humanitarian aspects. Natural rights are taken into a community based account in an attempt to create a perfect utopian society. All aspects of social life are considered in which the family is an analog of the factory. |
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Term
Why—according to the authors—does capitalism spread its influence worldwide? |
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Definition
| With the idea of new markets and desire for new products, capitalism spreads througout the world, shaping it in its own image. |
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Term
What are Marx’s and Engels’ intellectual debts to Locke, Smith, and other classical
liberals?
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Definition
| They create a social world described by laws. |
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Term
What would Andrew Carnegie say to Marx and Engels?
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Definition
| You are wrong, capitalism is superior. Carnigie would say that through communism, there would be lacking all things complex and beautiful. |
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Term
How does the bourgeoisie economically exploit the proletariat—and what role does
the state play in this exploitation?
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Definition
| Through the labor theory of value, bourgeoisie do not engage in labor, so all profit they make is considered theft from the proletariat. The bourgeoisie use police as tools to protect their wealth. |
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Term
Edward Bellamy, “The Parable of the Water Tank," from Equality (1897)
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Definition
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Term
How do the capitalists arise to their position of power?
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Definition
| By claming ownership of the spring thus controling the means of production. Through division of labor, and the implementation of false consciousness. |
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Term
What has Bellamy learned from Smith or Marx and Engels?
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Definition
| He illustrated the same ideas as Marx and Engles in the form of a parable. From Smith he takes the ideology that laborers create the market through the labor theory of value. |
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Term
How do the capitalists preserve their power during crises? |
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Definition
| The use of force by offering warriors water for their protection. Also through religion and false consciousness. |
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Term
What is the essential flaw of capitalism (to Bellamy)? |
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Definition
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Term
What, to Bellamy, is the solution? |
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Definition
| Communism and the brotherhood of humanity. |
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Term
Eugene V. Debs, “Trouble Ahead” (1903)
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Definition
| If we can divide the working class, they wont overthrow the system, thus creating false consciousness. |
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