DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

Democracy in America



Democracy in America

Question

Jefferson's theory of revolution (found in its shortest form in the Declaration of Independence) follows from John Locke's theory of government? Could it follow from Hobbes's theory of government? Under what circumstances?

Answer

The colonies in the America's would evidently prove to be the grounds for which these ideas would blossom. John Locke, a seventeenth century philosopher, would become one of the most influential people of his time, as well as far past his death. Perhaps no man garnished the idea of self government and government by the consent of the governed more than Locke. Under English rule, the people were subject to the divine right of the king, which stated that god chose some people to rule on earth in his will, and therefore whatever the monarch decided was the will of god.

Locke on the other hand had different ideas, and it was those ideas that would lead the founding fathers to the drafting of the declaration. Locke said that the power to govern was not divine (Newton 2004), but instead it was obtained from the permission of the people; in essence, government through the consent of the governed. Although he had no way of knowing it at the time, his philosophies would become the cornerstone for Jefferson's ideas put into the declaration. Unfortunately it wouldn't be for another hundred years or so before these ideas and principles were put into action, ignited by another man and his own ideas on monarchy.

Thomas Jefferson independence brought a kind of personal fulfillment. John Adams, a lawyer-farmer turned world statesman, was known for his vanity and gloating over his earthly riches.

The notion set that the new government would be one that was based on the voice of the people, all that was left was to put it down on paper and establish a legal constitution of sorts. To do so the continental congress set out to create a make shift constitution that would keep order and continuity to the colonies (Beiner 1992).

Despite congress's efforts the Articles of Confederation were to say the least no more than a peace treaty between the thirteen states, moreover a way in which to keep them binned until further measures could be taken to establish a more secure form of government. Under the articles there was no executive branch, the judiciary system was left solely up to the states, and ...