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Thomas Paine (1737-1809), who wrote Common Sense, The American Crisis I, The American Crisis XIII, and Rights of Man Part I, writes about the whole idea of different governments. Rather then look to “musty documents” which claim to “grant” them, Paine writes that rights by their nature cannot be granted, because if they can be granted then they can be revoked, and if they can be revoked then they are privileges, not rights. Paine then, like Locke, finds the origins of rights in nature, and the purpose of governments is to protect them. They are definitely not pacts “between the living, the dead, and those yet to be born,” or “between those who govern and those who are governed,” (Dolbeare, p.55) as some maintain, but rather voluntary associations for the sole benefit of their members. Therefore all institutions in a nation s government that do not benefit the nation itself are illegitimate.

John Locke (1632-1704), who was a founding father in the whole concept of the state and law of nature, was a great influence on the American political philosophers. Shaping the way government has taken play in his writings, he expressed his views about freedom of religion and the rights of citizens. Throughout his writings, Locke argued that people had the gift of reason, or the ability to think. Locke thought they had the natural ability to govern themselves and to look after the well being of society. Locke did not believe that God had chosen a group or family of people to rule countries. He rejected the “Divine Right,” which many kings and queens used to justify their right to rule. Instead, he argued that governments should only operate with the consent of the people they are governing. In this way, Locke supported democracy as a form of government. Locke wrote, “[We have learned from] history we have reason to conclude that all peaceful beginnings of government have been laid in the consent of the people.” Governments were formed, according to Locke, to protect the right to life, the right to freedom, and the right to property. There rights were absolute, belonging to all the people. Locke also believed that government power should be divided equally into three branches of government so that politicians will not face the “temptation… to grasp at [absolute] power.” If any government abused these rights instead of protecting them, then the people had the right to rebel and form a new government.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who named himself the founder of Political Science, rejected classical political science. He also rejected teleological because it was ideological just like classical science. For Hobbes classical political science claimed that there was a best regime. Ideally, a best regime can be fulfilled through ones nature, to just be, and to be courageous. Hobbes looked at the beginning of civilizations instead of the end of. Hobbes belief were based upon simplicity, that we are all free and equal, and civil society creates inequality.

Taking into account man s lust for power and inordinate self-interest, the framers of the Constitution feared the possibility of tyranny and proposed constitutional and extra-constitutional safeguards to help secure and protect those fundamental natural rights. By ensuring these rights we turned to James Madison s Federalist essays No.10 and 51 for a success of establishing a new political order, under the Constitution, that would secure individual rights as well as the public good.

In the Federalist essay No.10 we are concerned with two problems of faction. One, removing cause which has two ways to deal with it, a) destroying liberty and b) give everybody the same opinions, passions, and interest and Two, control effects. But since removing the cause is impossible, because passions are tied to opinions, and opinions are tied to passions. Causing a difficult task because passions have different degrees, and opinions and interest will always change. So the only way to deal with faction is to control it. Since society has always been divided by the haves and haves not. Government would expand the wealth giving everyone the opportunity to expand. But it would not be equal, because some are better than others in different fields. With the protection of interest and facilities of the people, we would give freedom to all to follow their dreams and some would make good choice and others bad. Creating a difference in hierarchy. So by creating avenues to the market place for those who would not have the opportunity, it will let people do things they thought they could not do. This Madison perception does not guarantee equality but it does create opportunity, because their can not be professional in every field.

As for the Federalist essay No.51 we are concerned with the understanding of how the structure of the proposed government makes liberty possible. Each branch should be, for the most part, in Madison’s opinion, independent. To assure such independence, no one branch should have too much power in selecting members of the other two branches. Madison furthers, the members of each branch should not be too dependent on the members of the other two branches in the determination of their salaries. Dividing power helps to check its growth in any one direction, but power cannot be divided absolutely equally. In a representative democracy it is not only important to guard against the oppression of rulers, it is equally important to guard against the injustice which may be inflicted by certain citizens or groups. Justice therefore is the purpose of government and civil society. If government allows or encourages strong groups to combine together against

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