1. The Second Continental Congress selected Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was a statesman from Virginia who was known as an idealist and a good wnter. Jefferson locked himself in a room for a few days, writing on a special desk te had designed. His dratt stated forcefully that governments dont grant rights: people are born, or endowed, with unalienable rights that they are entitled to, and the government should protect those rights. Those rights include iſe, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, the government gets its power and legitimacy from the will of the people, not from God, tradition or military power. These ideas come directly from the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement with origins in Europe in the seventeenth century. Thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed the revolutionary Ideas that men were born with rights and that governments rested on the will of the people. Jefferson was heavily inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment Which of these is most likely true of Thomas Jefferson? A. Thomas Jefferson was not familiar with any 8. Thomas Jefferson did not agree with John Enlightenment thinkers. Locke about the role of the government, C. Thomas Jefferson read the works of John D. Thomas Jefferson's ideas would later Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. influence John Locke. ОА O B

in the united states, the president is controlled by the

constitution, and in all respects subordinate to it. insofar

as it deals with presidential power, however, the american

constitution has proved to be a highly malleable document.

with very few exceptions,' the constitutional provisions relating to the president have not been changed at all since

they were ratified in 1787. but in the late twentieth century, those provisions do not mean what they meant in

1787. the constitution is a legal document, and it is enforced judicially; but its meaning was hardly fixed when it

was ratified. in particular, the contemporary president has

far broader powers than the original constitution contemplated. it is remarkable but true that large-scale changes in

the authority of the president have been brought about

without changes in the constitutional text, but nevertheless

without significant illegality.

this is a paradox. is it not clear that constitutional

changes, if not textual, are illegal? the paradox has considerable relevance to our current thinking about the presidency in particular and about constitutionalism in general.

perhaps the framers of the american constitution feared

legislative power most of all; 2 but from well-known events

in the twentieth century, it is possible to conclude that it is

presidential power that holds out the greatest risks to both

liberty and democracy. the president is by far the most visible leader in the nation; he is often the only person in government with a national constituency. moreover, he is

the national congress's powers over the states were specific and definite: it had the sole power to negotiate treaties, declare war, and make peace. all powers not granted to congress were reserved for state governments. congress had no power to levy taxes, for example.

during the debate over his landmark energy policy proposal, president jimmy carter failed to consult one of the most powerful senators, louisiana’s russell long, who would have a big say over whether the legislation moved through the upper chamber. this was classic carter. with a strong distaste for congressional politics, the president simply refused to do what most other presidents would consider routine, such as courting key senators. long became so irate with the president that when he was finally invited to a white house dinner, he stood up to ask a question and, before doing so, proceeded to sarcastically introduce himself: “i’m russell long, chairman of the senate finance committee.”

this interaction is a revealing moment in stuart e. eizenstat’s fascinating new history of carter’s presidency. the former peanut farmer from georgia was a president who, according to conventional wisdom, didn’t care much for party politics; nonetheless, in eizenstat’s view, carter’s legacy on domestic and foreign policy has been vastly underappreciated. the author paints carter as a “bold and determined” leader who bravely attacked the challenges of his time. eizenstat goes so far as to argue that carter might very well be the most successful one-term president in american history.

the speech convinced americans that the ussr was an enemy, rather than an ally, which led to the creation of the truman doctrine.