Origins of Our Government
Principles & Ideas
The Idea of a Society
• Jean Jacques Rousseau
– “State of Nature” there is no law or morality
(The Strongest & Smartest Survive) people
compete with each other
– People can be more successful in facing threats
if they join together and so they do. This then
creates what we know as “Society”
“General Will”
• “General Will” only comes from people
who are free and equal under the law.
• This “General Will” becomes the moral
force of the society. It decides what is right
and wrong
• This moral force should always work for the
common good
“Civil Society”
• A “Civil Society” only occurs after people leave
the “state of nature”
• Characteristics of a “Civil Society”
– People act on rules rather than instinct
– Impulse is replaced by a voice of duty
– People consult the general good rather than individual
needs
• Being part of a “Civil Society” people gain the
following:
– Liberty
– Right to property
– Moral Freedom
“Social Contract”
• In order to gain membership into this
“Society” people must agree to the
“compact”
• This Compact is what is known as the
“Social Contract”
• The Social Contract is the result of the
“General Will” of the people who are
members of the society
Right on Rousseau
• Rewrite these quotes from Rousseau in your
own words then decide if you agree with
them or not. (1= Disagree, 3= Neutral and
5=Agree)
Right on Rousseau
• “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in
chains. Many a one believes himself the
master of others, and yet he is a greater
slave than they.”
Right on Rousseau
• “I…regard the establishment of the political
body as a real contract between the people
and the chiefs chosen by them: a contract by
which both parties bind themselves to
observe the laws which form the ties of
their union.”
Right on Rousseau
• “The social compact establishes among the
citizens such an equality that they all pledge
themselves under the same conditions and
ought all to enjoy the same rights.”
Right on Rousseau
• ‘The first man who enclosed a plot of
ground and thought of saying ‘this is mine’,
and found others stupid enough to believe
him, was the true founder of a civil society.”
“For My People”
Poem by Margaret Walker
•
Read the poem and answer the following
questions in your notes:
1. Who are “her people”?
2. What rights are they being denied?
3. What point is Margaret Walker making in this
poem?
4. How would Rousseau respond if he read this
poem?
“Moon Landing”
Photo
•
Look at this photo and then answer the
following questions in your notes.
1. What is happening in this photo?
2. What does placing the US flag on the moon
signify?
3. How does this photo reflect Rousseau’s
thoughts of a civil society?
Painting by George Giusti -1955
•
Look at the painting and answer the
following questions in your notes:
1. What do you see in this picture?
2. What message does the artist want you to take
away from this painting?
3. How does this painting represent a social
contract?
4. How do you think Rousseau would respond to
this painting? How would Margaret Walker
respond?
“Civilization is a method of
living, an attitude of equal
respect for all men.”
1. In what ways do we make social contracts
today? Provide an example
2. Do you think that all people receive equal
treatment under the law? Why or Why Not?
Provide examples to support you position.
3. Does the US Government function under a
social contract?
4. Do citizens have ways of making the
government accountable to them? How?