Lesson 1.1 · Unit 1 · CED topic 1.1
Ideals of democracy
American government rests on a small set of ideas about where power comes from and what it is for. Before you can explain Congress, the courts, or a single Supreme Court case, you need these ideas, because nearly every institution in this course is an attempt to put one of them into practice. This lesson names the four democratic ideals the CED requires, shows how they appear in three foundational documents, and teaches you to apply them to a new scenario, which is the skill the first free-response question tests.
Learning objective.
- 1.1.A. Explain how democratic ideals are reflected in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address.
Essential knowledge.
- 1.1.A.1. The U.S. government is based on the following democratic ideals:
- Natural rights (all people have certain rights that cannot be taken away)
- A social contract (an implicit agreement among the people in a society to give up some freedoms to maintain social order)
- Popular sovereignty (all government power comes from the consent of its people)
- Limited government (a government’s power cannot be absolute)
- 1.1.A.2. The ideal of limited government is ensured by the interaction of these principles:
- Separation of powers
- Checks and balances
- Federalism
- Republicanism
- 1.1.A.3. The Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson (with help from Adams and Franklin), restates the philosophy of natural rights, and provides a foundation for popular sovereignty. The U.S. Constitution, drafted by James Madison at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that was led by George Washington (with important contributions from Hamilton and members of the “Grand Committee”), is an example of a social contract and establishes a system of limited government. The Constitution provides the blueprint for a unique form of democratic government in the United States. The Gettysburg Address, written by Abraham Lincoln and delivered during the U.S. Civil War, reaffirmed equality and popular sovereignty as defining foundations of democracy.
Four ideals
Read the four ideals in the box above and then fix each one in plain words.
- Natural rights. People have rights because they are human, not because a government grants them. A government that ignores them loses its claim to obey.
- Social contract. People give up some freedom, such as the freedom to settle every dispute by force, in exchange for order and protection. The agreement is implicit, and it is what gives government its purpose.
- Popular sovereignty. The people are the source of government power. Officials hold authority on loan, through elections and the consent of the governed.
- Limited government. Even a government the people have authorized may not do whatever it wants. Its power is bounded by law.
The CED adds that limited government is secured by four principles that work together: separation of powers (dividing authority among branches), checks and balances (letting each branch restrain the others), federalism (dividing power between the national government and the states), and republicanism (rule through elected representatives). Each of these gets its own lesson later. For now, notice that limited government is the ideal and these four are the machinery.
Where the ideals appear
The three documents named in the learning objective each emphasize a different ideal.
| Document | Author and moment | Ideal it emphasizes |
|---|---|---|
| Declaration of Independence (1776) | Thomas Jefferson, with help from John Adams and Benjamin Franklin | Natural rights and popular sovereignty |
| Constitution (1787) | Drafted largely by James Madison at the Convention led by George Washington | Social contract and limited government |
| Gettysburg Address (1863) | Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War | Equality and popular sovereignty |
Declaration of Independence (1776), second paragraph.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Sourcing. Jefferson wrote for the Continental Congress in 1776, and the audience was both the American colonists and the world, including possible foreign allies. The purpose was to justify separation from Britain, not to describe the government that would follow. The passage does two jobs. It asserts natural rights ("unalienable Rights"), and it states popular sovereignty ("the consent of the governed"). Notice the order: the rights come first, and government exists afterward "to secure" them. That order is the heart of the social-contract argument.
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863).
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Sourcing. Lincoln spoke at the dedication of a cemetery for Union soldiers during the Civil War. His audience was the crowd at Gettysburg and, through newspapers, the whole country. The purpose was to define what the war was for. By dating the nation to 1776, the Declaration's year, and by repeating "all men are created equal," he tied the Union's cause back to natural rights and popular sovereignty. The speech closes with the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people," which is popular sovereignty in a single line.
The Constitution as a social contract
The Constitution does not talk about natural rights the way the Declaration does. Instead, it does the work the Declaration says is needed: it creates a government, assigns it specific powers, and limits it. Its opening words, "We the People," place sovereignty with the people, and the document is a written agreement among them, so it is a social contract. Its structure of three branches, a division between nation and states, and a list of limits is limited government in action.
Scenario. A state legislature proposes a law letting the governor jail critics of the governor without a trial. The state supreme court strikes the law down because it violates the state constitution.
Question. Describe how a democratic ideal is illustrated in the scenario.
Model. The scenario illustrates limited government. Even though the legislature was elected by the people, its power was not absolute, because the state constitution set a boundary and the court enforced it. The law would have let the government punish people without a trial, which ignores the idea that people have rights a government cannot take away, so natural rights also appear. The court's ruling shows the ideal working: written limits that officials must obey.
Claim. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address reaffirms the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
Evidence. Lincoln dates the nation from the "proposition that all men are created equal," the Declaration's own words, and ends by invoking "government of the people."
Reasoning. Equality was a claim of natural rights in 1776, and "of the people" restates popular sovereignty. By choosing these phrases in 1863, in the middle of a civil war, Lincoln presents the Union cause as a defense of the founding ideals and not a new purpose. A limit on this analysis is that the speech is short and persuasive, so it shows how Lincoln wanted the war understood, not how every American understood it.
LO 1.1.A asks you to explain how democratic ideals are reflected in three named documents. Learn one sentence for each ideal and one document that shows it best. On the exam, the strongest answers name the ideal, point to specific evidence in the scenario or document, and say how the evidence shows the ideal. Do not confuse popular sovereignty (power comes from the people) with limited government (power is bounded).
- Which ideal says that all government power comes from the consent of the people?
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Popular sovereignty.
- What is a social contract?
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An implicit agreement among the people in a society to give up some freedoms in order to maintain social order.
- Which of the four ideals is shown by a court striking down a law because it exceeds the constitution?
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Limited government, because the government's power is bounded by law.
- Name two of the four principles that the CED says secure limited government.
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Any two of separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and republicanism.
- Which foundational document drafted by Jefferson restates the philosophy of natural rights?
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The Declaration of Independence.
- What did Lincoln add to the Declaration's ideals in the Gettysburg Address?
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He reaffirmed equality and popular sovereignty as defining foundations of democracy, linking the Civil War to the founding principles.