The Origin of American Democracy

The social contract theory is the belief that people are free and equal by natural right, and this in turn requires that all people give their consent to be governed. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes proposed this contract theory of government and both agreed that all man are created equal. They differed in their opinions on characteristics of men and what role a government should play. Hobbes saw man as being evil whereas Locke saw man under a more optimistic light. He thought the human mind is like a blank slate. Furthermore, Hobbes compared the English Revolution to the “state of nature”, which was brutal, and his negative view of the revolution led him to conclude that society needed a strong king. Whereas John Locke believed that the state of nature was good.  Hence if governments could not do as much for people than they did for themselves in the state of nature, government could be dismantled. Hobbes believed that a contract exists between the king and the people; but once a man becomes king, he cannot be overthrown and obtains absolute power. John Locke believed that the government conditional and can be overthrown if it does not represent the people. The framers of the constitution adopted John Locke’s idea of natural rights and government which helped shape the United States constitution. Our founding fathers choose democracy over monarchy, oligarchy, polity, tyranny or even aristocracy. Due to the vast size of the country, the framers of the constitution created a representative democratic system to govern the United States of America. To represent the people, the framers created a constitution based on liberty, equality, popular consent, majority rule, and popular sovereignty. Citizens of the country theoretically signs the social contract through voting and can vote to change their representative if they believe the person chosen before is not representing the population. Since the formation of the constitution, we have followed the basic ideas of government derived from Locke. If we had followed the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, then we might still be under a monarchy, who thought that order in society can only be achieved through stronghold of a king.

The most famous phrase from the declaration of independence is actually derived from John Locke. Thomas Jefferson said that all man are endowed with certain unalienable right, and some of these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The framers of the government, like John Locke, believed that it was the most basic role of government to protect these rights. Without the social contract theory, the United States of America that we know today might not even exist. The most basic idea of our government was derived from this simple theory. We might live in a chaotic state of nature if the government had to be overthrown every time conflict emerged. The framers adopted a system where the government would solely represent the people. If it did not, then through majority vote, citizen of this country can change or shape the government to fit their need.

The framers attempted “to create a more perfect union” where individuals can solve conflicts in an orderly and peaceful manner. They accomplished their task by combining underlying concepts and distinguishing characteristics that formed the core of the American political culture. The American political culture is commonly shared attitude, beliefs, and core values about how the government should operate. The political culture that the framers created emphasized the values of liberty and equality above anything else. The emphasis on personal liberty and individualism is something that sets American democracy apart from democracies of other countries. The U.S. democracy stands out because of its great emphasis on individualism. Democracies in other countries, like Canada, focus mainly on their citizens on a group or universal basis whereas, under the American democracy, all individuals are deemed fair and rational and are endowed with, as Thomas Jefferson would phrase it, “certain unalienable rights.” This emphasis on individualism may have started with the puritans but we still hold this value close to our heart.  The government the framers created 200 years ago is not the same government we operate under today. For example, the concept of personal liberty has evolved as the time passed. The framers intended the Americans to be free from governmental infringements on freedom of religion and speech. But in present day the concept personal liberty also includes freedom to work or go to school without discrimination.

The American democracy that we know today may have started with the social contract theory, but it had to evolve a long way to accomplish the framers notion to create "a more perfect union”.