AP Government Full Course

Thomas Hobbes

State of nature -> :(

Proposed ppl give up some rights (as long as others did the same) and agree to live in peace -> Beginnings of the Social Contract

Leviathan

John Locke

1. Ppl are born free and =

2. Natural law - law of God and that his law is acknowledged through human sense and reason

3. No one can be subject to political power w/o consent -> obligated to rebel when ruler failed to respect consent of governed

Rosseau

Influenced by Locke

R’s social contract - describes the agreement of free and equal ppl to abandon certain natural rights in order to find secure protection for society and to find freedom in a single body politic committed to the general good

Envisioned popular sovereignty

Montesquieu

1. Viewed a republican form of gov as one having defined and limited power while granting political liberty to citizens

2. Argued for separation of powers into the three branches we have today