Activity:  The Miracle of America High School Teacher Course Guide, Unit 7, Part 2, Activity 9:  Our National Compact:  The Nation’s Social Contract, p. 254. This writing and class discussion may serve as preparation for a short answer test. Categories: History. The people thus enter a contract or firm agreement with one another to submit to the determination of the majority and to abide by the just, agreed-upon laws of the civil body. During the Enlightenment era of the 1600s and 1700s in Europe, British philosopher John Locke notably developed a social contract theory of civil government that influenced American political thought. Samuel Webster of Massachusetts in his 1774 Misery and Duty of an Oppressed and Enslaved People described these charters as “a solemn covenant between [the king] and our fathers…in the same manner that King David stood engaged by the covenant of the people.”12. In Locke’s social contract theory, every individual, as free and equal before God, possesses certain God-given, natural rights including life, liberty, and estate—all of which Locke generally calls “property.”  In a state of nature (before or outside of civil society and government), individuals are unable to secure their rights, which are always at risk and threatened by others, because no adequate means exist to enforce the Law of Nature, the universal moral law of mankind, and to protect their rights. The people can choose to give or withhold this power. [emphasis mine]9, Sidney explained that such compacts are mutually binding, and if one breaches the agreement, the other is released from it. Why the Puritans in America Favored Rule of Law How does it differ, if at all? [18]  Gary Amos, Defending the Declaration:  How the Bible and Christianity Influenced the Writing of the Declaration of Independence (Brentwood, TN:  Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1989), 150. [17]  James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, in The Federalist Papers, ed. The Pilgrim’s Mayflower Compact of 1620, Puritan leader John Winthrop’s 1630 “City on a Hill” sermon, and the Puritans’ covenantal laws and constitutions in their colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, all initiated the Bible-based practice of covenants in America—long before Locke articulated his social contract theory. The Principle of Popular Sovereignty:  The People’s Rule More recently, historians also have linked social contract theories to pivotal social movements such as those for Native American rights, civil rights, immigration reform, and women's rights. Equality poses the biggest problem to America simply because in any country the people make the country, and if the people can’t get along either internal conflicts occur, or people eventually leave. SOCIAL CONTRACT IN AMERICA 377 setts General Court on January 23, I776, made more explicit the concep-tion that it was the violation of the terms of the contract by wicked rulers that provided a warrant for resistance.5 It was as late as I774 before Americans began to support this right of … The nation’s social contract was partly shaped by, in addition to ancient secular examples, the Bible-oriented worldviews of Locke and Sidney—in being based on a God-oriented popular sovereignty and in reflecting the covenants practiced by the ancient Israelites in the Bible. 16. By following public arguments reflective of the social contract tradition, Mark Hulliung offers a useful way of rethinking the origins and development of the American political order from its birth to the present. Instead, he defended popular sovereignty or the people’s rule—the idea that since all men are created free and equal by God, the whole people (not just one person) hold political power. The idea of the social contract is one … The students will also consider and write about how this compact affects them personally. An invention of political philosophers, the social contract or social compact theory was not meant as a historical account of the origin of government, but the theory was taken literally in America where governments were actually founded upon contract. The Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) each took the social contract theory one step further. Locke addresses this practice and purpose of social contracts:  …, Men being…by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent, which is done by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living, one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against any that are not of it. The Founders also added the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights of 1791, to the U. S. Constitution to reinforce citizens’ individual rights. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia: The Case and Its Impact, Continental Congress: History, Significance, and Purpose. John Locke and Algernon Sidney:  A Bible-based Defense of Equality and Popular Sovereignty for the American Founders 12. In November 1620, the individuals we know as the Pilgrims created the first social contract in the New World. These influences show that the Bible-based idea of covenants informed America’s national compact. Indeed, without this compact and the cherished values and laws contained within it, what would hold “we the people” together? The people can choose to give or withhold this power. 236-237. Kamrath, Angela E.  The Miracle of America:  The Influence of the Bible on the Founding History and Principles of the United States of America for a People of Every Belief. Houston, TX:  American Heritage Education Foundation, 2014, 2015. American constitutionalism is a product of that merger.”14. In conclusion, the principle of social contract is an important characteristic in the United States’ early history, revolution, and founding as a nation. Locke argued that people are thus not royal subjects, but in order to secure their property rights, people willingly give over their right to a central authority to judge whether a person is going against the laws of nature and needed to be punished. [4]  Locke, Second Treatise, Routledge, 258. What is more, Locke’s social contract, as it were, closely resembled a covenant as was practiced by Jews and Christians in the Bible and by the Puritans in early America. [13]  Samuel Adams, “A State of the Rights of Colonists,” 1772, in Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763-1776, ed. Our National Compact:  The Nation’s Social Contract…. 3)  Related articles/videos (see above). The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Charles Armand Dumaresq, c1873. He says that “all contracts are of such mutual obligation, that he who fails of his part, discharges the other. Definition and Examples. The American Founders applied the principle of social contract to defend the American Revolution and to write the United States’ Declaration of Independence and U. S. Constitution. [bold emphases mine]13, Adams and other revolutionaries thus helped to bring Locke’s social contract theory freshly to the minds of colonists during the Revolutionary War. 4. 21. 13. The social contract has been the dominant ideological principle in America since the Revolution, but most studies have only explored the social contract through the lens of the American Revolution or in comparison to the European models of the social contract. Locke asserted the need for consent in such contracts, saying, “That which begins and actually constitutes any political society is nothing but the consent of any number of freemen capable of majority, to unite and incorporate into such a society. The aim of a social contract theory is to show that members of somesociety have reason to endorse and comply with the fundamental socialrules, laws, institutions, and/or principles of that society. White House, Washington, DC. From these early European and American influences, the social contract became an important Bible-based principle of the American Revolution and the American founding in the 1700s. 14. Activity:  Journal/Reflection Writing and Short Answer Test George Klosko affirms in his 2011 Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy that “the ancient texts of the Christian Bible provided material for contractualists, especially in the Old Testament discussions of God’s covenants with the children of Israel.”11  Sidney’s Bible-inspired compact, like Locke’s social contract, was likely in the American Founders’ consciousness when they enacted their social contracts in the new nation of the United States. The idea of the social contract had a huge impact on the American Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) and James Madison (1751–1836). SOCIAL COMPACT THEORY. The principle of civil covenants permeated European political thought during and after the Reformation era from the 1500s to 1700s. Terms of Use - Intellectual Property Restrictions - Code of Conduct - Privacy Policy, AHEF Copyright © 2017 All Rights ReservedDesigned by The Right Aid "Web Design for Nonprofits", the American Heritage Education Foundation, The American Social Contract in the U. S. Declaration and Constitution, The Principle of Popular Sovereignty:  The People’s Rule. American Revolution Debate:  The American Quest for a New, Bible-Inspired Republic It is not the social contract. Locke further argued that if a government no longer protects each individual's right, then revolution is not just a right but an obligation. In the eyes of many patriot Americans, because Britain had violated its charters, America’s ties and obligations to Britain were dissolved. The social contract is what gives that constitution power and authority. 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