The current American political system did not spring into existence overnight. It is the result of an intellectual tradition, as well as trial and error, and even luck. To understand how the United States came to have the form of government that exists today, it is important to first understand the theories of government that influenced the Framers.
Plato: When Socrates was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by a jury in Ancient Athens in 399 BC, his student, Plato, become bitter. Plato resented the democratic system that had put his mentor, Aristotle, to death. Plato believed that the best type of leader was a King. In his book, The Republic, he wrote that man was born evil. He wrote that society is naturally divided into three groups of people; society was naturally hierarchical. The three groups were warriors, workers, including merchants and farmers, and intellects. The King should come from the group of intellects and should be a philosopher-king who rules benevolently and wisely.
Machiavelli: In what is today Italy, in 1513, Machiavelli wrote a book about political power, named The Prince. Machiavelli believed that most people were evil and corrupt. A centralized government with a strong leader would be the best type of government. The leader, according to Machiavelli, should do anything necessary to achieve what was best for his country. "The ends justify the means." The Prince became a must-read for many politicians in years to come, as it was viewed as a common sense, pragmatic approach to politics.
Thomas Hobbes: In England in 1651, Thomas Hobbes wrote The Leviathan, a book of political theory. Hobbes believed that a man's life was "solitary, nasty, brutish, and short." Hobbes believed that a King was the best type of leader. The King should be an absolute monarch, and his authority should extend over all aspects of the lives of his citizens. There existed a social contract between the ruler and the people: The people gave up all rights to the leader in the return for security from the leader.
John Locke: Locke, also residing in England, spoke of the social contract, as had Hobbes. However, in his work, Second Treatise on Civil Government, written in 1689, Locke stated that the people gave their consent to be governed to the leader. Locke said that men were born with certain inalienable rights, such as "life, liberty, and property," and that man gave up some rights to the government in return for protection of life, liberty and property. Locke also insisted that if the government was not doing its job, then it was the right, the duty, of the people to overthrow the government. Sound familiar? It should, as Thomas Jefferson used Locke's theories in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, the basis of the American Revolution was the ideas penned by John Locke.
