Lesson 1 -
What Would Life Be Life in a State of
Nature?
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South Dakota Applications
- How does the State of Nature apply to South Dakota history?
- What is a South Dakotan’s obligation to their social contract
with the State of South Dakota? (ie Revenue, Food Tax, Gambling,
Income Tax, Inheritance Tax)
Activity
- Simulation of a new colony who will determine if they need laws,
when laws, and what the laws need to be. Then - what
punishments will fit the broken laws?
- Have students read this passage from South Dakota: Compass
American Guides:
“Despite the dangers of disease and violence, and the setbacks
borne by insects, drought, blizzards, and depressions, the settlers
who stuck it out left behind strong, healthy and determined
descendants, qualities which have become time honored in South
Dakota. This was not a world in which laboring from dawn to dark was
found remarkable, or the activities of leisure time (with the
exception of hunting and fishing) a major topic of discussion.
Residents
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Slave Bill of Sale |
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continue to toil in grasshopper –infested fields and on parched
prairies; leaders continue to extend rail lines and commerce, dam
rivers, and make even the its most inhospitable places habitable.”
Engage the students in a discussion on why people would leave
“habitable” conditions to live in conditions as described in the
above-passage. Does the government have a responsibility to overcome
such obstacles?
- Students will write a state social contract.
- Have students write their own definitions of: life, liberty and
property. Students will research topics from SD history where the
definition of these topics have been in question. Ie: abortion,
death penalty, rights of Native Americans.
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