The Social Contract and Its Impact on the Government

The Social Contract and Its Impact on the Government

The “Social Contract” was a theory written in the 17th and 18th century. This theory argued four important main points. These main points said that the state existed to serve the will of the people, that people were the only source of government power, that the people were free to withhold power of the government, but also had the ability to give power to the government, and finally it stated that the ideas in this document limited government, individual rights, and popular sovereignty. James Harrington, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke wrote this document.

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were both very important men, and both had a tremendous influence on the upcoming of this country. However, as much as these men had in common, some of their beliefs were very different. For example, Hobbes believed that politics should be based on the desire of power and the fear of death. He wanted to create a powerful state, what he called a “Leviathan”. (“A government to protect the people from one another to keep them in awe”) In the “Social Contract” Hobbes said that men should give up rights to an authority to act for them, on their behalf. He said that sovereign authority had to be absolute to overcome fear of death in nature. With this said, it basically meant that the governments only reason for existing was for the safety of the people. He also believed that no person was subject to any power above them, so there was no certain power to protect any one power from another. “You took by force what you wanted, you are only as safe as your own intellect and physical strength.” So, Hobbes believed that the government should provide protection, well-being, and any other need a citizen might have. If there was no government, there was fear. Locke on the other hand believed that rulers and citizens’ rights should all be restricted by the laws of nature (right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of property). He believed that a person should not be under political power without agreeing to the power itself. He said that the people should agree to be under political power, and should agree to government. The government should act only by majority decision, and that the powers are given to the government as trust. The minute that the trust is broken, then the powers can be taken away. He beli...

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...people in the sense that they are able to have their own opinions such as freedom of religion, speech, press, and the right to peacefully assemble. The civil rights include justice under the law, diversity and discrimination, federal civil rights laws, and citizenship. The civil rights are the positive acts of the government to insure Constitutional guarantees.

The Constitution also has unwritten right which are called the unalienable right, these are stated in Amendment 9. Amendment 9 says, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The Constitution itself does not provide much guidance to specify what exactly the rights are. These rights though mainly occur in the Supreme Court, and in the laws of Congress. These rights, in a way, are just as powerful as the rest of the Constitution; however, when being specified it must be carefully done in order that it does not cause any conflict or confusion in the sense that the decision is “Constitutional”. These rights come to control state activities as well as federal activities in the sense that everything falls strictly in the Constitution.