The foundations on which the United States was built on radically switched the role of sovereignty in the 18th century. Instead of a single man or a single government being the sovereigns, it was the government that is meant to serve the sovereign people. ... The United States has been a mirror of democracy and republicanism for many nations since it declared its independence over 200 years ago. The list of despot crimes and the declaration that the colonies are free and independent from the King, eventually leads to the modern United States of today as well as the expansion of similar gove...

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An example of a conflict that is related to their theories about human nature and human society is the situation that is going on between the United States and Iraq. The United States is claiming that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and wants them to disarm the weapons immediately. ... The United States has issued an ultimatum: Iraq must dismantle the weapons or else the United States will invade Iraq and disarm the weapons themselves. ... The Rights of the Sovereign (Hobbes, Leviathan 134 v/s 139) cannot be challenged by the people unless the sovereign fails to meet some sort of requ...

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The state of nature is the condition men were in before political government came into existence, and what society would be if there was no government. ... Even though the power of the sovereign is accumulated from the people, the sovereign has absolute power. ... This form of a government is representative of a democracy, which is prevalent in the United States. ... For this reason, the power of the sovereign must be absolute. ... Revolution was only justified if the people were in a state of war with the government. ...

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Fortunately man had reason at his disposal and long ago reasoned that it would be far better to renounce the state of nature, including his natural right to all things, in favor of establishing a peaceable, safe commonwealth where power would be held by an omnipotent sovereign. ... It mattered little if the sovereign was just or not, what mattered was that it was strong, absolute, and perpetual so that man could not slip back into his natural state of war. ... Since the need to protect private property is what drove man to establish a sovereign then that same need would have him appoint...

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- We must mutually divest ourselves of certain rights in order to escape the state of natural war. ... Thus, a sovereign instituted by force is as much a part of the social contract as a sovereign instituted by agreement. ... XVIII Of the Rights of soveraignes by institution - The rights of a sovereign are as follows: - 1) Subjects owe him sole loyalty; - 2) Subjects cannot be freed from their obligation to him; - 3) Dissenters must yield to the majority in declaring a sovereign; - 4) The sovereign cannot be unjust or injure any innocent subject; - 5) The sovereign cannot be put t...

• Word Count: 2051
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

Doubtless, both thinkers have different opinions on human nature and state of nature; the state of nature is where people were in before political government came into existence. ... This rights are not derived by the government regulations and also exist independent from the sovereign. ... Conversely to Hobbes monarchial state, Locke contends that the government should be democratic. ... Concurrently, Locke states that people have the right to disobey the ruler's order or regulations if illegal actions are mad towards their freedom and independence. ... As we can look right now how the ...

• Word Count: 1676
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Rousseau society only exists by its "collective moral body, a kind of depressed self which, in its wholeness, is the sovereign power the sovereign and subjects are simply the same people in different respects." ... In one sense, much of the notion that the establishment of a constitution would be on behalf of a united people was myth. ... Tom Pain's Common Sense (1776) delivered the first bold argument for independence in words any fairly literate person could understand: "Society in every state is a blessing, but Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil". ... Jeff...

• Word Count: 3737
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

He explained in terms of history by stating that the morality of one society is the immorality of the other. ... He states that humans act in a way so as to generate the greatest amount of public happiness or general happiness, and also says that the determination of goodness and badness of their actions is their result expressed in the terms of public happiness. The stating of contradictory views like that shows us that he was not extreme in his thinking. ... Focusing on 'Treatise on Civil Government', he wrote it to disapprove the whole belief or doctrine of royal privileges or pr...

• Word Count: 7056
• Approx Pages: 28
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Government, education, legal systems, social events, clothing, and home decor were all governed by the regulations of Puritanism. ... (American Enlightenment [1], 2) Other political ideas reached America, such as John Locke's publications on contractual government and the divine right of kings. In his 1690 pamphlet, Two Treatises of Government, Locke stated that political sovereignty does not reside in the state, but in the people. He continued saying that the state has power only if governed by true and "natural" law. ... The movement was "marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than...

• Word Count: 2303
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate