hobbes, locke and rousseau yay!!!

What do the political philosophers Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes have to say about why people form government?  What do they say about sovereignty, power, legitimacy, and interdependence? Do you agree with their theories?  How would YOU establish a government?

Hobbes, in Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil, described the true “state of nature” as all individuals being naturally equal. He stated that in this state every person could do what they needed to do to survive. This free will resulted in chaos and disorder among people because in what Hobbes describes are the state of nature there were no laws nor anyone to enforce any type of rule. Hobbes said that it was necessary to create a form of supreme power to enforce rules on everyone to maintain peace. This ultimately led to his belief in absolute monarchy.
Locke on the other hand believes differently. In Two Treatises of Government, Locke claimed that “ men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch,” (which almost sounds like a small stab at Hobbes.) He stated that humans have the right to life, liberty, and property, similar to our constitution. He also states that all men are free and equal. These claims justify the government as a result of a social contract. This social contract allows people to enjoy their rights, as well as transfer them to the government to provide peace and stability. There are a lot of connections to Locke’s philosophies and the U.S. Constitution, such as a representative government as well as the right to life, liberty, and property. 
Rousseau was the one who actually published  The Social Contract, which opened with, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” This line aligns with the beliefs of Locke that people don't have to hand over their rights to  a single monarch. He claimed that the solution to the state of nature was to have people give up their rights to the whole community and not a king. Hobbes used the word sovereign to refer to a king, but Rousseau used this term to refer to the whole community. He believed in making laws to protect the greater good. 
In theory, I like and identify with the beliefs of Locke and Rousseau about creating laws for the greater good and having a representative government. This makes sense because we can draw so many parallels between their beliefs and many U.S. documents like the Constitution, as well as many philosophes present in our current government. I  personally have no idea how I would personally form a government, but I don't not like the Hobbes theory of being under a single monarch. 




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