Source Sets / World History
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.
Teach it
✓ Lesson readyA 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.
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
- Prepare 8 min
Students read the six text cards and fill in the prep sheet. Each student marks one quote to use. - 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. - Switch 2 min
Outer circle moves in. - 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? - Debrief and vote 6 min
Observers share one strong comment and one point no one raised. Then use the four-corners slide. - 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
- Choose the thinker you most agree with and the one you most disagree with. Quote each one.
- 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
- True Law of Free Monarchies (1598)Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 3 minTrue 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.
- Two Treatises of Government (1690)Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30 minTwo 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?
- The Spirit of the Laws (1748)Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 minThe 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?
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, 1762, extended excerptsDocument · 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?
- Cesare Beccaria: Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 4 minCesare 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?
- What is Enlightenment? (1784)Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 13 minWhat 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.
Quick check
Five questions built only from this set’s sources: four multiple choice and one short answer. Print it or assign it in Google Classroom. The answer key gives the source line for every answer.
Preview the questions
- Which source in this set contains this passage? “It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.”
- According to King James VI and I (1598), what was the relationship between kings and laws?
- Which source in this set contains this passage? “…all men are naturally in that state, and remain so, till by their own consents they make themselves members of some politic society…”
- What did Montesquieu say happens when legislative and executive powers are united in one person or body?
- Short answer: Choose two sources from this set. Using a specific detail from each, explain how they help answer the set’s question: “Where should a government's power come from?” Write 3 to 5 sentences.
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)
Build a DBQDBQ packet (make a copy)
Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.