Federalism & The Constitution (Part 1)

Distribution of Power in American Politics

The American Revolution: THE POLITICS
The Revolutionary Idea
o Early Goals
Representation
o Social Contract Theory
o Thomas Paine
Common Sense
*No taxation without representation King George III
*Independent sovereign nation it would fall under the jurisdiction of the British government
but, in itself, it is a self-governed state we were fighting for a seat at the parliament
*The British government was the most powerful and important and well developed the world has
seen since Rome
Social Contract Theory
The Theorists:
o John Locke (Two Treatises of Government)
*Published in the late 17th Century, had a lot of influence because he was a Britian
o Jean Jeaques Rousseau (Origins of Inequality & The SC)
*From Europe, (OoE) genealogy of status quo, system of government in Europe werent working
to progress society in an equal way, interested in the origin of society and how the inequality
came to be.
*(SC) Solvency for how to overcome the inequality that existed in European politics
o Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan)
*Very historically significant, good government would be ones of the people but when the
government is formed, government would have the right and authority to rule in an authoritarian
capacity (authoritarian but democratically selected government)
*Hobbes is disappoint that authoritarian would have to exist to govern men
Themes of the Social Contract:
o State of Nature (The Wilderness)
*No law and order, no governance, every human being is operated with unalienable or god given
rights (Protestant and Judeo Christian)
o Natural Rights (life, health, liberty, property)
Rights to live
Rights to own property
Rights to live healthy
Rights to freedom, liberty
o Establishment of Civil Society
*Establishment of law and order
*The essence is that man was born into a state of nature, a wild garden, similar to Adam and Eve.
Once man is plunged violently into this nature, man is given dominion the result of being the
most beloved creature of God, over all other living creatures on Earth.

*Watering hole in this wilderness their properties

*Man becomes fearful of people taking away their properties, in this fear they withdraw for
protection but eventually realize that they cannot live in isolation.
*Language is the discourse between men which then is used to make agreements, they make
written down, codified agreements otherwise known as laws, prescribe what people can and
cannot do.
Thomas Paine Common Sense (1776)