Political Philosophy Leading to
the U.S. Constitution
Ancient Greek Philosophy through
Social Contract Theory
Ancient Greek Origins
Plato’s Republic
• Examines justice (for both the individual
and for the city)
– People are NOT all equal
• Three levels of individuals:
– Philosophers (Gold)
– Guardians (Silver)
– Masses (Bronze)
Ancient Greek Origins
Aristotle - The Politics
• "From these things it is evident, that the
city belongs among the things that exist by
nature, and that man is by nature a
political animal”
– The formation of cities is natural
– Man is by his own nature a political
being
Political Philosophy Leading to the
U.S. Constitution
• Social Contract Theorists:
– Thomas Hobbes: The Leviathan (1651)
– John Locke: 2nd Treatise on Gov’t (1681)
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Social Contract
(1763)
• Three fundamental ideals:
– Natural rights
– Classical Republicanism
– Constitutionalism
Social Contract Theory
• A social contract is an act by which individuals
agree to form a government
• According to social contract theory, governments
are established by the people who combine to
achieve some goal
• Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and JeanJacques Rousseau were social contract
theorists
• They hypothesized the existence of a state of
nature prior to any government
Hobbes’ Leviathan
• Life is nasty, brutish, and short
• State of nature is war
• For Hobbes, civil war was the ultimate
terror, the definition of fear itself. He thus
wanted to reform philosophy in order to
reform the nation and thereby vanquish
fear.
• Security is most important
Hobbes’ Leviathan
• Civil peace and social unity are best
achieved by the establishment of a
commonwealth through social contract
• Ideal commonwealth is ruled by a
sovereign power responsible for protecting
the security of the commonwealth and
granted absolute authority to ensure the
common defense.
Hobbes’ Leviathan
• Describes commonwealth as an "artificial
person" and as a body politic that mimics the
human body
– The frontispiece to the first edition of Leviathan, which
Hobbes helped design, portrays the commonwealth
as a gigantic human form built out of the bodies of its
citizens, the sovereign as its head
– The image constitutes the definitive metaphor for
Hobbes's perfect government
– His text attempts to prove the necessity of the
Leviathan for preserving peace and preventing civil
war
Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t
• Governing principle: liberty
• Places sovereignty in hands of the people
• People are equal and invested with natural
rights in a state of nature in which they live free
from outside rule
• Natural law governs behavior, and each person
has license to execute that law against someone
who wrongs them by infringing on their rights
– This person puts himself in state of war with you
Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t
• People take what they need from the earth, but
hoard just enough to cover their needs
• Eventually, people begin to trade their excess
goods with each other, until they develop a
common currency for barter, or money
• Money eliminates limits on the amount of
property they can obtain (unlike food, money
does not spoil), and they begin to gather estates
around themselves and their families.
Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t
• People exchange some of their natural rights to
enter into society with other people, and be
protected by common laws and a common
executive power to enforce the laws
• People need executive power to protect their
property and defend their liberty
• The civil state has power over the people only
insofar as it exists to protect and preserve their
welfare
Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t
• Locke describes a state with a separate judicial,
legislative, and executive branch--the legislative
branch being the most important of the three,
since it determines the laws that govern civil
society
• People have the right to dissolve their
government, if that government ceases to work
solely in their best interest. The government has
no sovereignty of its own--it exists to serve the
people
Locke - Why enter social contract?
• "If man in the state of nature be so free as has been
said, if he be absolute lord of his own person and
possessions, equal to the greatest and subject to
nobody, why will he part with his freedom, this empire,
and subject himself to the dominion and control of any
other power? To which it is obvious to answer, that
though in the state of nature he hath such a right, yet the
enjoyment of it is very uncertain and constantly exposed
to the invasion of others; for all being kings as much as
he, every man his equal, and the greater part no strict
observers of equity and justice, the enjoyment of the
property he has in this state is very unsafe, very
insecure."
Locke: Summary
• Locke's model consists of a civil state
• Built upon the natural rights common to a people
who need and welcome an executive power to
protect their property and liberties
• Government exists for the people's benefit and
can be replaced or overthrown if it ceases to
function toward that primary end
• Consent of the governed – enter into social
contract to protect property and ensure liberty
Ancient Greece vs. Locke
• ***Athenian notion of citizen
participant in lawmaking
• ***Lockean notion of citizen bearer of
rights
• American notion of citizen??
– This question is at the center of the debate
over political participation in this country
Rousseau: Social Contract
• “Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains”
• “Will of all” vs. “General will”
– The general will can never err, as it is always aimed
at the public good
– The will of all is an aggregate of individual selfinterest (tyranny is possible)
• Purpose of political community = create a society where
everyone chooses the laws that govern them
– “Men must be forced to be free”
– By nature, men are unequal
– Making everyone a citizen in society makes them
equal under the law
Conclusions:
• People cannot survive on their own
without the presence of government
– Man truly is a political animal
• To get what is most important (security,
liberty, property), people must give their
consent to be governed and enter into a
social contract
What Kind of Government is Best?
• We need government (through social
contract) to protect liberty, property, and to
provide security
• Democracy is the best form of
government:
– Direct democracy (Ancient Greece)
– Representative democracy (United States)
Representative Democracy
• In the United States, we do NOT
participate directly in government (with a
few exceptions: initiatives, referendum)
– Instead, we elect representatives who will act
on our behalf
• Two kinds of representative:
– Delegate
– Trustee
What Kind of Representative
Democracy is Best?
• Geographic representation
• Descriptive representation
• Substantive representation
Descriptive Representation:
How Representative is Congress?
106th Congress
Nationally:
Senate
Male: 49.1%
Female: 50.9%
House
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Other
106th Congress
U.S. House U.S. Senate
376 (86%)
97 (97%)
37 (8.5%)
0 (0%)
18 (4%)
0 (0%)
3 (< 1%)
2 (2%)
0
1 (1%)
Congress Under Descriptive Representation
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Other
U.S. House
301 (69%)
U.S. Senate
69
53 (12.3%)
54 (12.5%)
16 (4%)
11 (2%)
12
13
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