U.S. Government and Civics / Unit 1: Foundations of Government
1.3 Enlightenment Ideas
Notes
American founders drew on Enlightenment thinkers of the 1600s and 1700s.
- Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan): without government, life would be "nasty, brutish, and short," so people give up some freedom to a strong ruler for order.
- John Locke: people have natural rights to life, liberty and property. Government is a social contract based on the consent of the governed; if it violates rights, people may change it.
- Baron de Montesquieu: divide government into separate legislative, executive and judicial branches (separation of powers).
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: government should follow the "general will" of the people (popular sovereignty).
- Social contract theory: people agree to form a government and obey it in exchange for protection of their rights.
Practice
Which thinker most influenced the Constitution's division of power into three branches?
Montesquieu argued that separating legislative, executive and judicial power protects liberty.
The idea that government exists to protect life, liberty and property, and gets its power from the people, comes mainly from:
Locke's natural rights and consent of the governed shaped the Declaration of Independence.
A student argues, "People agree to obey a government in exchange for the protection of their rights." This describes:
The social contract is an agreement between the people and their government.
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