Hobbes believed in absolute monarchy as an ideal political system. According to this concept, the monarch should hold complete and total power. Citizens had no authority either to invest the monarch with his power or to take it away. Rather, their duty was to comply with the monarch's edicts. The theory comes from the idea that human beings can't be trusted to govern or to control themselves. They needed a king to make the decisions, create and enforce the laws, and ensure their well-being. In absolute monarchy, the king serves as the all-powerful father exercising complete authority over his unruly children, the citizenry. Hobbes claims this is because human nature is foolish, selfish, violent. Hobbes' ideas about the social contract are also key to his political philosophy. He believed the social contract enables humans to escape the brutality and primitivism of human life in the state of nature. The social contract means that humans give up certain liberties in order to receive the protections of the king and civil society. For example, we give up the liberty to steal from our neighbor in order to receive the benefit of knowing our neighbor cannot steal from us either - at least, not without punishment.
The absolute monarchy, for Hobbes, enables this civilized society. It is the ideal system through which the social contract may be fulfilled. When left to our own devices (i.e., the state of nature), we all descend into barbarity and chaos. Hobbes' ideas about the social contract are also key to his political philosophy. He believed the social contract enables humans to escape the brutality and primitivism of human life in the state of nature. The social contract means that humans give up certain liberties in order to receive the protections of the king and civil society. For example, we give up the liberty to steal from our neighbor in order to receive the benefit of knowing our neighbor cannot steal from us either - at least, not without punishment. The absolute monarchy, for Hobbes, enables this civilized society. It is the ideal system through which the social contract may be fulfilled. The English Civil War, Interregnum, and Glorious Revolution helped inspire the ideas that would earn Locke the name the Father of Liberalism. In fact, it was Locke, not Thomas Jefferson, who would first describe the three fundamental human rights: life, liberty, and property. In Two Treatises of Government, Locke argued that these fundamental human rights come from God and no human can control or take them away, not even an absolute monarch. These rights belong to all humans and they endure from birth until death. Locke's theories would strongly inspire the American Revolution and the US system of government. Locke claimed that an ideal form of government allows human beings to exercise their reason and their liberty to the fullest. Locke claims that humans enter into a social contract to achieve the ends of justice and equality that they may not be able to achieve on their own. To help with this, citizens give a small measure of authority to a leader who helps resolve disputes, enforce the rule of law, and ensure the orderly operation of society. The leader's power comes only from the consent of the governed. The leader uses their power to protect the life, liberty, and property of the citizenry. When the leader fails to meet his obligations to his people, for example, by ruling arbitrarily or unfairly, then the citizenry may revoke their consent to be governed. They may rebel, as was the case in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which Locke strongly supported. Locke strongly opposed the idea of the absolute monarch. Rather, Locke took the liberal view that humans should have the liberty to exercise the fundamental rights that they were born with. As such, the only proper role of government was to protect those individual rights, such as through conflict mediation and the enforcement of the rule of law. We looked at how these two political thinkers impact British history in the 1700s when Great Britain reforms its monarchy by establishing a Parliament - a group elected by the people with whom the monarch must share power. There was a brief introduction to how these enlightened ideals influenced the American Revolution. Jaydn will read about the causes of the American Revolution tonight, complete 5 review questions and prepare for a quiz on the H.W. for class tomorrow.