Government Through the Eyes of Some of History’s Best Minds

            Rousseau was a Swiss philosopher whose thoughts helped influence the French revolution. He enjoyed inquiring of his government because it helped him understand and even come to love it more the more he learned about the interworking’s of his government. He also believed, as citizens, everyone has rights and should be knowledgeable of the way their government operates.

 Near the beginning of his work, Rousseau debates the comparison of slave to master and citizen to ruler. His main argument is that they are not similar because while the slave relinquishes his rights for subsistence from the master, the ruler relies on the people to provide for him. Rousseau is concerned with the sovereignty of the people and he believes that the individual is separate from the state. For example, in times of war, if the “enemy” lays down their arms then you should not kill them because the fight is with the country as a whole not each person. Due to this belief, Rousseau would complement a leader that avoids, at all cost, destroying or taking private property of its citizens and unarmed citizens of other countries as well. However, Rousseau also contradicts himself with his belief that the common will is greater than the will of the individual. He means that the need of the entire society is more important for the ruler to consider than the happiness of one citizen. A government system that resembles  Rousseau’s beliefs is a representative republic. For example, while a republic attempts to give their citizens the ability to participate in government and rights so that the individual can obtain personal happiness, if the need were to arise, the government would choose the option best fit for the entire country not just the individual. However, there is no government that truly fits exactly what Rousseau believed is the best form of government.

            Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing the most famous literary work in American history: The Declaration of Independence. In this text, Jefferson and the rest of congress are explaining to Britain that their complaints have went unanswered for long enough and that America would no longer be part of Britain. They also write of the natural born rights of all people. The belief are that all men reserve the right to be free is common between the writings of Rousseau and Jefferson.. A large portion of the Declaration is committed to listing reasons for the need of a split between the two countries. Many of these reasons Rousseau would agree are just reasons for a ruler to be despised. However, the main similarities end there. Jefferson writes of the right of men to stand up to an unjust rule and to create their own

            When Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence, he was very sure that this was the only course of action. He stated that the British armies and political figures in America had been warned on multiple occasions of their transgressions that were unwarranted and extremely unjust. The citizens had voiced their complains to Parliament and they were unanswered. Americans were faced with harsher taxes, unjust actions, and, occasionally, with the unnecessary deaths of their fellow community members. The members of congress in America had enough time to think through many different options; however, this was the only feasible course of action after their previous attempts. Jefferson and the rest of Congress where acting out of necessity of the people of America. If Rousseau were to offer any advice to Jefferson, he would most likely say that the people of the land should do their best to uphold their end of “the social contract”. However, he would also say that the contract does not allow for one of the members to be offended against without the rest of the body. This means that if one of the members of the community were to be injured or taken advantage of then the rest of the community would “feel” their pain. Jefferson would most likely agree with this advice and continue to pursue the same path that he was traveling.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
The Formation of Capitalism and the Role of Agriculture. Adam Smith was known as the "father of economics". This is because he is both credited and blamed for creating modern capitalism. His most well-known work is Natural Progress of Opulence . In this work, Smith writes of how he believes the perfect government should function and how it should handle the goods industry. He states that all societies should be focused around economic trade. He defends his argument by explaining how everything that makes a functioning society is reliant on the production and trade of all goods. I agree with this part of his idea because every seemingly small job has a very large impact on the rest of the country. One industry cannot thrive without the other industries existing. Through this work Smith explained, in great detail, how he believes the country developed capitalism type of functioning. He also explain how more developed countries are much richer than less developed countri...
Read more
Image
The Human Mind The complexity of the human mind has always fascinated humankind. It is amazing how our brain is able to process thousands of things at the same time and still command motor functions. The study and hypothesizing about the human mind can be dated back as early as Plato. Plato is a well-known thinker and philosopher from ancient Greece. Being from such a privative time period, many of Plato's assumptions and believes are unreliable in modern science. One of these topics is the dependability of the senses. Senses are how we perceive the world around us, and we must rely on these senses to keep us safe; however, they often may deceive us. When it comes to praising the senses we are materialistic. However, we should avoid relying solely on the materialistic. We can do this by learning more about the science and history of things around us so that we rely more on knowledge instead of sight or hearing. If we can achieve this, we will be able to understand our world full...
Read more
Image
Rich vs Poor: How Can We Help? Karl Marx was a philosopher and intellectual thinker from Germany during the 1800s. He, along with a group that shared his beliefs, published The Communist Manifesto, a book that stated their ideal government. Marx opens the paper by stating that every new form of government needs to be properly introduced to the minds of society, so that they can be informed when they make their decision on the effectiveness of the government type. He then continues the book by demonstrating two different classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat. While the bourgeoisie are the upper class and are receiving the most credit and capital from the ventures of the city, the proletariat class are workers and live only by the jobs they acquire. While the working class is being overwhelmed trying to keep up with the growing demand for their products, the upper class still moves the industry faster and further. This expansion of the world market for goods may lead to the working...
Read more