Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution of the United States.
Write an esssay (1000 words minimum) in which you address the following two questions or topics:The fundamental values that inform how are democratic government is legitimated and organized are enshrined on the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution of the United States.
Identify and discuss the basic ideals and principles of American democracy and how they are applied in our republican form of government.
Those ideals and principles are discussed in the first and second chapters of your textbook. You can also visit the following websites to read the original document in which these fundamental values were first stated and how they were later incorporated in the American Constitution:
The Declaration of Independence: http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
The Constitution of the United States: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
Identify the most important Supreme Court cases and executive actions and their impact on law and on our society.
The history of the United States has been marked by the progressive expansion of voting rights and the protection of its citizens through legislation and Supreme Court decisions. At the same time, executive orders, particularly in periods of crisis led to the violation of individual rights. Throughout this module these issues are covered. In chapters 3 and 4 you will find the information you need to answer this question. You are also encouraged to visit the following websites for further details.
Sample Solution
Equality, Rule of Law, Limited Government, and Representative Government are examples of fundamental principles and values in American political and civic life. In the United States political system, the national government is given limited but not supreme or total powers. After the struggle of the American Revolution to be free from rule by a king, people in the colonies were very wary of a tyrannical ruler or an overbearing government. In the Constitution, limited government relates to free markets and classical liberalism, drawing on Adam Smith’s philosophy of the “invisible hand” and self-regulating economies. The 9th and 10th amendments of the Bill of Rights further express the concept of limited government.
