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People derive their values from the general culture they inherit from past generations and also from their personal experiences. We will deal with Americans’ “political culture” in detail in Chapter 6. For our purposes here, we can note that the Europeans who first settled the thirteen original colonies, most of whom came from England, brought with them from their home country many ideas about how government should operate. These ideas—passed from generation to generation and gradually modified by the ideas of newer cultures and immigrant groups as well—have helped to shape the values of Americans today. Historical experiences have also helped to shape these values. As we will explore in further detail in this chapter, the original migration from Europe, the continuing lure of an open frontier for much of the nineteenth century, and the modification of our values by newer cultures and ethnic groups have profoundly influenced Americans’ ideas about the proper role of government.

Four basic American values have played a prominent role in determining the extent of government’s involvement in people’s lives and what the government does:

1 fairness based on contributions

2 freedom and individualism

3 support for the rule of law

4 religion

Let us look at each of these values separately.