The Social Contract, Popular Sovereignty, and the State of Nature

• Obj: SW explain Social Contract Theory as the basis for Popular Sovereignty

• WU: Get a White, “We the People” text. Do the “Critical Thinking Exercise on p 16.

• Monty Python Explains the Basis of Government:

• Read pp 16-18. Answer questions 3,4,6 & 7 on p 18.

How does this illustration demonstrate what might happen in the “State of Nature?”

How did the “Rights of Englishmen Develop?”

• Read pp 29-30 of WTP.• What do you think on p 30

How did the American “Declaration of Independence” reflect the Ideas of Hobbes, Locke, and the Rights of Englishmen?

• The “Declaration of Independence” can be found at pp 306-307 in WTP

• Close Reading of the DI• What does it mean to be self evident?• What is an “inalienable” right?• Where does the DI say rights come from?• What does the DI say is the “purpose” of government?• According to the DI, from where does the government

derive it’s power? This reflects what idea?

• Read the Preamble to the Constitution (p316 WTP)

• Who established the Constitution?• Based on the Preamble, the constitution

reflects what idea about government?