People and Events That Shaped the US Constitution

This entry in the Exploring Our Nation series offers a short primer on the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th centuries that extolled individual rights and the reduction of government power. Chief among the philosophers discussed here is Montesquieu, who categorized types of power as monarchical, despotic, and a republic, with the latter deriving authority from providing for the common good. Montesquieu advocated for a separation of powers in government, specifically three branches as we have in the United States, with a built-in system of checks and balances. The program also looks at different types of colonial governments in early America, such as the royal government (in which the British monarch chose a governor), charter (where colonists elected their own governors), and proprietary (individuals or groups were licensed to run their own colonies). Finally, a key event is examined: Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts during 1786-87, a tragic uprising in which armed farmers marched on a court in protest of unfair taxation following the end of the Revolutionary War. Recommended. Aud: J, H, P. (T. Keogh)