Editing Politics of the United States (section)

====Concepts of the Founding Fathers====
[[File:Statue of Liberty 7.jpg|thumb|The [[Statue of Liberty]], a symbol of American freedom and openness to [[Immigration to the United States|immigration]]]]

Two pivotal political ideas in the establishment of the United States were [[Republicanism in the United States|Republicanism]] and [[classical liberalism]]. Central documents of American thought include: the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence (1776)]], the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution (1787)]], the [[Federalist Papers|Federalist]] and [[Anti-Federalist Papers]] (1787–1790s), [[United States Bill of Rights|the Bill of Rights]] (1791), and [[Gettysburg Address|Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address"]] (1863).

Among the core tenets were:

* [[Consent of the governed]]: the authority and legitimacy of the government is dependent upon the assent of the people as expressed in free and fair elections
* [[Civic duty]]/"Positive liberty"/"republican virtue": the responsibility to understand and support the government, participate in elections, pay taxes, oppose [[political corruption]], and perform military service.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://isi.org/modern-age/the-american-founders-and-their-relevance-today/|title= THE AMERICAN FOUNDERS AND THEIR RELEVANCE TODAY |author=Robert P. Kraynak |publisher=Intercollegiate Studies Institute |date=2015}}</ref>
* [[Democracy]]: government answerable to citizens, who may change who represents them through elections.
* [[Equality before the law]]: laws that attach no special privilege to any citizen and hold government officials subject  just as any other person.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/founded-on-a-set-of-beliefs.html#:~:text=Among%20them%20was%20the%20idea,revolutionaries%20openly%20discussed%20these%20concepts. |publisher=Library of Congress |title=Creating the United States|date=April 12, 2008 }}</ref>
* [[Freedom of religion]]: [[Separation of church and state|government that neither supports nor suppresses any or all religion]].
* [[Freedom of speech]]: government that restricts neither through law nor action the non-violent speech of a citizen; a [[marketplace of ideas]].