FreePrimarySources

Source Sets / World History

Source set · 6 sources ✓ Lesson ready

Where should a government's power come from?

King James I defends the divine right of kings; Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Beccaria, and Kant offer other answers about rights, laws, and reason.

Timeline of key events →

Teach it

✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Socratic Seminar: Where Should Power Come From?. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

Make a copy (Lesson Slides)Make a copy (Lesson Plan + materials)

1. Hook: what would you do? 3-5 min

Your school is starting a student council that will make real rules about phones, lunch, and events. You get to decide where its power comes from.

Options: (1) The principal appoints the leaders, and they answer only to the principal · (2) Students elect the leaders and can vote them out · (3) Leaders must follow a written set of rules that limits their power

Then read: the Kings were the authors and makers of the laws and not the laws of the Kings. King James VI and I, True Law of Free Monarchies (1598)

2. Main activity: Socratic Seminar: Where Should Power Come From?

Grouping: Fishbowl: inner circle of 8 to 10 speakers, outer circle of observers; switch halfway

Setup: Opening question: “Where should a government’s power come from: God and tradition, the consent of the people, limits written into law, or each person’s own reason?” There is no single right answer. Strong answers quote the sources and take the king’s argument seriously too.

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Seminar text cards for all 6 sources (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Seminar prep sheet (in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Observer tally sheet
  1. Prepare 8 min
    Students read the six text cards and fill in the prep sheet. Each student marks one quote to use.
  2. Round 1 seminar 12 min
    Inner circle discusses the opening question. Rules: talk to each other, not the teacher; cite a source each time; invite quiet voices in. Outer circle tallies who cites evidence.
  3. Switch 2 min
    Outer circle moves in.
  4. Round 2 seminar 12 min
    Follow-up question: King James said a good king will follow the law even though he makes it. Is that enough to protect people, or did Montesquieu and Locke want something more?
  5. Debrief and vote 6 min
    Observers share one strong comment and one point no one raised. Then use the four-corners slide.
  6. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: Where should a government’s power come from?

  • A. From God and tradition, through a monarch (King James VI and I)
  • B. From the consent of the people (Locke, Rousseau)
  • C. From laws that divide and limit power (Montesquieu, Beccaria)
  • D. From people who think for themselves (Kant)

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: student council scenario and King James
  • 9 min Compare King James with Locke: read both quotes aloud and discuss where each says power comes from
  • 3 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: scenario and King James
  • 8 min Seminar preparation
  • 12 min Round 1
  • 2 min Switch
  • 12 min Round 2
  • 7 min Debrief and four corners
  • 5 min Exit ticket

4. Exit ticket

  1. Choose the thinker you most agree with and the one you most disagree with. Quote each one.
  2. Montesquieu and King James both talk about laws. How are their ideas about who controls the law different?

5. Differentiation

Support

  • This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
  • Pair each text card with a one-sentence summary on the back.
  • Let students prepare one comment in writing before the seminar.
  • Sentence starter: “I think power should come from ___, because ___ says ___.”

Extension

  • Find one idea from these thinkers in the U.S. Declaration of Independence or Constitution. Quote both.
  • Beccaria wrote about crime and punishment, not kings. Why does his essay belong in a discussion about where power comes from?

Suggested sequence

  1. True Law of Free Monarchies (1598)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 3 min
    True Law of Free Monarchies. A primary source from 1598, reproduced from James I. It begins: "THE KINGS THEREAFTER in Scotland were before any estates or ranks of men within the same, before any Parliaments were holden or..."
    Ask: Where does James say a king's authority comes from, and what does he say subjects owe a bad king?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  2. Two Treatises of Government (1690)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30 min
    Two Treatises of Government. A primary source from 1690, reproduced from Two Treatises of Government by John Locke. It begins: "Sect. 4. To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally..."
    Ask: According to Locke, why do people form governments, and when may they replace one?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    The Spirit of the Laws. A primary source from 1748. It begins: "Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (16891755), was a nobleman, a judge in a French court, and one of the most influential..."
    Ask: Why does Montesquieu believe the powers of government should be separated?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, 1762, extended excerpts
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 23 min
    "Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole."
    Ask: What does Rousseau mean by the 'general will,' and what does it require of citizens?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. Cesare Beccaria: Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 4 min
    Cesare Beccaria applied the an Enlightenment analysis to crime and punishment, and to the ugliness of the traditional legal and penal system.
    Ask: What does Beccaria argue makes a punishment just or unjust?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  6. What is Enlightenment? (1784)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 13 min
    What is Enlightenment?. A primary source from 1784. It begins: "Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage s man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another...."
    Ask: What does Kant say keeps people from thinking for themselves, and what freedom does he say they need?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “Where should a government's power come from?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.