Why should anyone obey a government at all? Three European writers gave answers the American founders read closely. Each starts by imagining a state of nature, life with no government, and asks what people would agree to in order to leave it. That agreement is the social contract. It builds on the forms of government you just met.
| Thinker | Work | Life without government | What government is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Hobbes | Leviathan (1651) | A war "of every man, against every man"; life "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" | Peace and safety, by a strong sovereign people agree to obey |
| John Locke | Two Treatises of Government (1689) | Free and equal, under a law of nature, but with no fair judge to settle disputes | To protect natural rights: "life, liberty and estate"; it rests on consent and may be replaced if it breaks its trust |
| Montesquieu | The Spirit of the Laws (1748) | (He compared real governments instead) | Liberty survives only when lawmaking, enforcing and judging are in separate hands |
Why it works
The thinkers start from the same picture but reach different ends. Hobbes thought the state of nature was so dangerous that people should give a sovereign nearly unlimited power. Locke thought people keep their natural rights when they form a government, so a government that violates them breaks the contract, and the people may "alter or abolish" it, as the Declaration later put it. Montesquieu supplied the design: split power so no one can abuse all of it. The American system took Locke's purpose and Montesquieu's design.
Key idea
Social contract theory says legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed. Locke: government exists to protect natural rights to life, liberty and property. Montesquieu: separate the powers to protect liberty.
Worked example: Who said it?
"Life, liberty and estate": whose idea, and where does a similar phrase appear in American founding documents?
- "Estate" is an old word for property; the phrase is Locke's, in the Second Treatise.
- Jefferson's Declaration (1776) lists "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," changing the third item.
Answer: John Locke; the Declaration echoes it with "the pursuit of Happiness."
Worked example: Tracing an idea into the Constitution
Which thinker's idea explains why the Constitution puts lawmaking, enforcing and judging in three separate articles?
- Articles I, II and III create a Congress, a President and courts.
- Splitting those three powers is Montesquieu's rule for keeping liberty.
Answer: Montesquieu.
Common mistake
Crediting Locke with "the pursuit of happiness." Locke wrote of life, liberty and estate (property); "the pursuit of Happiness" is Jefferson's phrase. Check: if a question quotes the Declaration, the author is Jefferson; if it says "estate" or "property," it is Locke.