The Birth of

Modern Political
Theory
1651-1789

Some basic questions of

political philosophy
What is the origin of government?
What is the purpose of government?
What legitimates the power and authority
of government?
What is the best form of government?

Overview & Background: the

Experience of England in the 17th
Century
English political tradition

The English Civil War (1642-49)

The Magna Carta (1215)

Parliament
Common Law
Charles I vs. Parliament
Influence on Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan (1651)

The Glorious Revolution (1688)

James II vs. Parliament

Influence on John Locke
Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690)

Hobbes vs. Locke: essential

concepts

Concepts they share:

The State of Nature

Natural Rights
The Social Contract

Where they differ:

What drives human

behavior?

Passion (Hobbes)
Reason (Locke)

Hobbes

What is the best form of

government?

Absolute monarchy
(Hobbes)
Constitutionalism (Locke)

Locke

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

(1651)

Wanted to construct a
science of politics based on
an indisputable principle
This principle must be based
on the strongest element in
human nature
The strongest element was
passion, not reason
The strongest passion is fear
of violent death
This fear gives rise to the
natural right of selfpreservation
The natural right of selfpreservation is the basis of
Hobbes thought

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

(1651)

In a state of nature there is a

war of every man against
every man
No arts, no letters, and
which is worst of all, continual
fear and danger of violent
death, and the life of man
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,
and short.
To secure peace men make
contracts establishing a
sovereign power who is not
subject to civil law since by its
will it creates the law
Of the three forms of
sovereignty (monarchy,
aristocracy, and democracy),
monarchy is the most
effective in securing peace

Leviathan (1651)

John Locke, Second Treatise of

Civil Government (1690)

The state of nature is not a

state of perpetual war;
All men are free and equal;
no man by nature is
sovereign over another
man
The law of nature,
revealed by reason,
governs the state of nature
Natural rights include the
right to Life, Liberty, and
Estate (property)

John Locke (1632-1704)

John Locke, Second Treatise of

Civil Government (1690)

No one ought to harm

another in his life, liberty, or
property; if anyone does
harm another, the one he
harms has the right to
punish him
Through a social contract,
people create a government
to protect their natural rights
of life, liberty, and property
The best form of government
to protect natural rights is a
government of limited
powers (constitutionalism)
If a government breaks the
social contract, the people
have the right to dissolve it
Two Treatises of Civil Government (1690)

Overview & Background: the

Experience of America and
France
inEnlightenment
the 18th Century
The Age of

The Experience of America

The American Revolution (1775-1783)

Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
(1776)
James Madison, The Federalist, No. 10 (1787)
The U.S. Constitution (1788)

The Experience of France

Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)

The French Revolution (1789-1799)
The Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen (1789)

Thomas Jefferson, The

Declaration of Independence
The founding document of
(1776)
the United States of

America
Influenced by
Enlightenment political
thought, especially that of
John Locke
States the principles upon
which the new nation
would be founded
Jeffersons argument for
independence

Natural rights
A right to revolution
A list of grievances

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Thomas Jefferson, The

Declaration of Independence
(1776)

When in the Course of human

events it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the
political bands which have
connected them with another and
to assume among the powers of
the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of
Nature and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes
which impel them to the
separation.

We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created

equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independence

James Madison, The

Federalist, No. 10

One of many essays published

during the fight for the ratification
of the Constitution (1787-88)
During this time, Federalists
supported the stronger central
government under the proposed
Constitution; Anti-Federalists
were apprehensive about a
stronger central government and
opposed the Constitution
Madisons The Federalist, No. 10
was written to convince AntiFederalists that liberty could be
safeguarded in a large republic
Among the numerous
advantages promised by a well
constructed Union, none deserves
to be more accurately developed
than its tendency to break and
control the violence of faction.

James Madison (1751-1836)

The U.S. Constitution

Establishes the government of the

United States of America
Implements the principles of
Enlightenment political theory
Creates a government of limited
powers (constitutionalism)
The Preamble explains the
reasons for establishing this
government:
We the People of the United
States, in Order to form a more
perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and
secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do
ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States
of America.

Jean Jacques Rousseau, The

Social Contract (1762)

Man is best in the state of

nature
Since perfect freedom is the
natural condition of human
beings, it is the existence of
social restrictions that
requires explanation
Only the family is truly a
natural association
Military conquest and slavery
in its usual forms cannot
establish any genuine right
for one person to rule over
another
Society must devolve from a
social contract in which
individual citizens voluntarily
participate
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Jean Jacques Rousseau, The

Social Contract (1762)

But throughout history, the

wealthiest and most powerful
members of society made
inequality a permanent
feature of human society
Rather than have a
government which largely
protects the wealth and the
rights of the powerful few,
government should be
fundamentally based on the
rights and equality of
everyone
These ideas were essential for
both the French and American
revolutions
This social inequality was
deeply felt in 18th century
France
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Background to the French

Revolution: France in the 18th
1 Estate the clergy
Century
150,000
st

.5% of the population

owned 15% of the
land
paid no taxes
2nd Estate the nobility
350,000
1.5% of the population
owned 20% of the land
paid very few taxes

The Three Estates (classes)

3rd Estate everyone else

22,500,000
98% of the population
bourgeoisie (middle class) 8%
sans-culottes (urban workers)
peasants (farmers)

The Declaration of the Rights

of Man and Citizen (1789)

Product of the first stage of the French Revolution

(1789-99)
Property, liberty, security, resistance to
oppression declared natural rights
Freedom of speech and press, religious toleration
All citizens guaranteed equality before the law
No arrest or imprisonment without due process
Sovereignty affirmed to reside in the people
Officers of the government subject to removal if
they abused powers conferred upon them