Unit 1 Assignment: Ancient Philosophies with Political Revolutionary Principles
Connecting Ancient Philosophies with Political Revolutionary Principles

In this assignment, students will:

Define tyranny by examining a variety of primary sources.
Consider how early American leaders' fear of tyranny and preference for the rule of law influenced the development of our own system of government.
Trace the development of one of the tenets of Western philosophy, liberal representative government, whose development is considered to be one of the turning points of world history.
Western political thought encompasses an emphasis on liberty of the individual to engage in public life for the improvement of himself and society. In order for these independent individuals to participate in public life, they needed to be governed by laws that affected everyone equally. This concern with the rule of law, a system of laws that extends to everyone in the state equally regardless of class, is a direct response to the absolute authority of the king. Enlightenment thinkers were very critical of the ability of the Crown to:

Create laws for certain groups of people and exclude himself and other aristocrats from obeying the law,
Not be responsible to an independent group of judges who made legal decisions based on the law.
This arbitrary use of power was seen as tyranny, an illegitimate form of government which could only be addressed with the rule of law. Two of the most important thinkers on the topic of tyranny and the rule of law were the Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. (from Tyranny and the Rule of Law, 2014, California History-Social Science Project, The Regents of the University of California)

Consider the questions: Who held power before and during the Enlightenment? How did tyranny and the rule of law influence revolutionaries?

Now, review King James' speech to parliament (1610) > Read the speech.

1) Answer the following questions using the speech:

What is the central claim that King James makes in his speech?
What are the reasons he uses to support his claim?
What evidence does he provide to illustrate his reasons?
2) Write a paragraph that addresses the following question:

How did King James I argue that kings are like gods?
Review the writings from Unit 1, such as Rousseau's Social Contract, Plato's The Republic, and Aristotle's Politics.

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Plato's Republic
Aristotle: from The Politics, c. 340 BCE
Think about how ancient philosophers impacted political revolutionary principles in the 1700s.

3) Make a list of at least 3 quotes (one from each of the sources above) that define or describe the following:

Justice and tyranny (Plato's Republic),
Tyranny and the role of laws in government (Politics by Aristotle)
Freedom, liberty, sovereign government (Rousseau's Social Contract)