How the 'social contract' described by Hobbs and Locke led to the formation of the United States and the citizens role in maintaining the social contract today.

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The Social Contract and the formation of the United States

For most of recorded history, with brief exceptions, i.e. ancient Greece and Rome, mankind has lived under the rule or control of a single man or a group of men. The majority of men therefore lived in a state of insecurity, fear and terror. Imagine living under the power of a man who had control over all aspects of your life. He could take your food, your possessions, your family, and if he wished your life. If you did something to offend him, or perhaps, if the King got out of the wrong side of the bed, your life could be in peril. We who live in the western world cannot fathom these things happening in our own time. We have freedoms that our predecessors could only dream of. How did we reach this state of freedom? How did we throw off the yoke of 'divine rule'? How did the rulers, who referred to themselves as 'bluebloods,' maintain this system of subjugation for most of man's history? Let us look back in history to see how we reached this present state in which we live in.

In earlier times when the 'yoke' of oppression was on the neck of the people, the King had absolute power; his word was the law. With a few words or a gesture from him, heads could literally roll. He controlled just about every aspect of his subject's lives, from where you could live, to what you could eat. For example, wild animals that roamed the forest belong to the King. If a starving peasant was found with an animal that he had caught to feed his family without permission, it was grounds for imprisonment, perhaps even death. Those who hunted with permission had to...