Alexander Hamilton: The Significance Of Politics

Having been adamant believers in such laws, the founding fathers thought the best way to protect the natural rights of American citizens was to establish laws that are in agreement with divine laws. They believed that God brought the world into being with series of principles by which it should be governed. From their perspective, the American people would not be able to continue to exist as an independent civilization without the protection of these principles. Thomas Jefferson, referring to Natural Law, wrote the following words in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (The Declaration of Independence, U.S. 1776, para. 2).

(pg 9) This government would ensure that one’s freedom could not impinge upon that of another’s. By using reason to secures freedoms, Locke is essentially saying look inward to yourself, using your own reason as a citizen to give the authority to the government, seen in “Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.” This gave a new power to the freedom individual, stressing not only that we are free to

Civil disobedience rejects the idea that if one wishes to live in a certain society, one must obey that society’s laws and policies. The social contract theory is the agreement among society to put in place moral and political governing rules of behaviour in order to form the society in which they live in. According to John Locke, the State of Nature is where people live together in the state of complete liberty to conduct the best fitting life for oneself. Furthermore, the State of Nature has no governing body which results in an anarchy, where a society is unable to exist. The State of Nature assumes everyone to be equal as well as that each person possesses their own natural rights.

This statement basically states that “no one has power over another and are free (Locke 4)” to govern themselves accordingly. Yet, this theory that man are equal and can govern themselves does not abide by abuse or harm to another. Locke states that “all mankind who abide by the law of nature are equal and may not

Dr. King says “anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered outsiders” (4). He fought the issue against “injustice” because he believes every state is considered mutual. Nevertheless, King then refutes the difference upon just and unjust laws. King would concur with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all” (12). An unjust law considered to King is a law that “degrade human personality”.

"Natural rights are those which appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791. The Bill of Rights were derived from the English Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers and the public felt that the constitution didn’t set up enough boundaries for the government, they felt that the government would assume too much power and take away the “Natural Rights” of the human.

Such interests being firmly embedded in our shared legal and cultural heritage. Further asserting that a man with no privacy granted by the state goes against the very concept of individuality, which forms the core of a nation’s constitution. Also, adding that recognising the core of privacy is more important rather than bifurcating privacy into a tetrad, an inevitable result flowing from Prosser’s

Born in the age of Enlightenment, when the ideas of thoughtful individuals encouraged individuals to revise and to perform without supervision of authorities; Locke was acclaimed for his contribution on the foundation of several democratic societies, supporting freedom of conscience and criticizing hereditary monarchy and patriarchalism (Moseley, John Locke: Political Philosophy). Locke’s main ideas were mainly associated with limiting the power of the government and promoting the rights of individuals. Like Locke himself stated: “That being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for … being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another 's uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for ours.” (John Locke, 1689) Locke firmly believed government only exists to promote well-being of the society and the society has an obligation to replace a government which does not satisfy their needs. Thus, John Locke’s philosophy of limited government directly or indirectly urged individuals to fight against the oppression to protect their own basic

The individual is the best judge of their own interest, other people should not force them to do things they do not want to do. Therefore, the individual responsibility would refer to self-interest; “[a man`s] independence is or right absolute…over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign” (203). In classical liberalism, the individual is more important than the collective society and every individual deserves respect. A classical liberal, in this case John Stewart Mill would say that that government should intervene in order to prevent someone from doing any harm to others (directly or indirectly), but he thinks that government has no business intervening to protect individuals from any harm they may be doing to themselves, it is their individual responsibility whether or not their actions and their decisions harm themselves and they have the right to do those actions until they are in the position where they could potentially harm other; “ the individual is not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself”(206). Individual responsibility would also include the individual being held accountable for his actions when they do cause harm to

Simply put, rights must be given on the basis of what kind something is, not an individual basis. This also leads to the widely accepted concept of natural rights. Natural rights guarantee rights to everyone based on the kind of thing they are and protect every individual of the same kind equally. Based on this, because humans are the only kind in nature which can logically possess rights, all humans are guaranteed rights, regardless of if they can exercise them or not. They possess these rights simply by being human.

When a man wants to be a part of the government, all the people with constitutional rights have to investigate a man’s reasoning and ambitions. James states, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” James Madison is saying that no government would be needed if men weren’t imperfect and unjust, no controls on the government would be necessary because the men wouldn’t make unjust decisions. The government that is elected should be able to keep the people under control, and at the same time be able to keep themselves under control. In Federalist Paper #51 James Madison states, “We see it particularly displayed in all the subordinate distributions of power, where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other -- that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights..” James Madison is set on keeping the power divided because he believes it helps us see the growth in the