Justin M. Boucher
Thomas Hobbes
On the equality of Men: “Nature hath made men so equal, in the faculties of body, and mind; as that though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body, or of quicker mind then another; yet when all is reckoned together, the difference between man, and man, is not so considerable, as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit, to which another may not pretend, as well as he.”
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On the creation of Commonwealths: “The final Cause, End, or Design of men (who naturally love Liberty, and Dominion over others,) in the introduction of that restraint upon themselves, (in which we see them live in Commonwealths,) is the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented live thereby; that s to say, of getting themselves out from the miserable condition of war, which is necessarily consequent (as hath been shown) to the natural passions of all men, when there is no visible power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their Covenants…”
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On the office of the Sovereign: “The office of the Sovereign, (be it a monarch or an assembly,) consisteth in the end, for which he was trusted with the Sovereign Power, namely the procuration of
the safety of the people;
to which he is obliged by the Law of Nature, and to render an account there of to God, the Author of that Law, and to none but him.”
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In summary of his position on government: “That the condition of meer Nature, that is to say, of absolute Liberty, such as is theirs, that neither are Sovereigns, nor Subjects, is Anarchy, and the condition of War: That the Precepts, by which men are guided to avoid that condition are the Laws of Nature: That a Commonwealth, without Sovereign Power, is but a word, without substance, and cannot stand: That Subjects owe to Sovereigns, simple Obedience, in all things, wherein their obedience is not repugnant to the Laws of God, I have sufficiently proved, in that which I have already written.”
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John Locke
On the creation of a commonwealth: “Wherever therefore any number of Men are so united into one Society, as to quit every one of his Executive Power of the Law of Nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is there a
Political, or Civil Society.
”
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On life, liberty and property: “For all being Kings as much as he, every Man his Equal, and the greater part no strict Observers of Equity and Justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in the state is very unsafe, very unsecure. This makes him willing to quit a Condition, which however free, is full of fears and continual dangers: And ‘tis not without reason, that he seeks out, and is willing to join in Society with others who are already united, or have a mind to unite for the mutual
Preservation
of their Lives, Liberties and Estates, which I call by the general name,
Property
.”
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On tyranny: “As Usurpation is the exercise of Power, which another hat a Right to; so
Tyranny
is
the exercise of Power beyond Right
, which no Body can have a Right to. And this is making use of the Power, any one has in his hands; not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private and separate Advantage. When the Governour, however intituled, makes not the Law, but his Will, the Rule; and his Commands and Actions are not directed to the Preservation of the Properties of his People, but to the satisfaction of his own Ambitions, Revenge, Covetousness, or any other irregular Passion.”
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On rebellion: “For since it can never be supposed to be the Will of the Society, that the Legislative should have a Power to destroy that, which every one designs to secure, by entering into Society, and for which the People submitted themselves to the Legislators of their own making; whenever the
Legislators endeavor to take away, and destroy the Property of the People,
or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a stat of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common Refuge, which God hath provided for all Men against Force and Violence. Whensoever therefore the
Legislative
shall transgress this fundamental Rule of Society; and either by Ambition, Fear, Folly, or Corruption,
endeavor to grasp
themselves
, or put into the hands of any other an Absolute Power
over the Lives, Liberties and Estates of the People; by this breach of Trust they
forfeit the Power
, the People had put into their hands…”
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