The enlightenment🚫

Second Treatise of Government

Book by John Locke published in 1690; it emphasized that good government is a based on social contract between the people and the rulers.

The Spirt of Laws

Book written by Montesquieu in which the stresses a government's need to have a separation of power, support of the rule of law, and other Enlightenment-era ideals.

Leviathan

Book written by Thomas Hobbes that deals with the structure and nature of society and government, which was an influence on John Locke and other Enlightenment-era philosophers.

John Locke

British philosopher who argued that governments only purpose was to protect man's natural rights.

Hobbes

English philosopher in the 17th century whose book "Leviathan" helped clarify both the social contract of government.

Rousseau

French enlightenment philosopher and the author of The Social Contract, which became one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the Western tradition.

Voltaire

French philosopher in the 18th century known for his prose 1759's "Candide) and his defense of civil liberties.

Montesquieu

French philosopher who developed a number of political theories in his Spirt of the Laws.

Natural Rights

This is a political theory that individuals have privileges that no government can deny.

Social Contract Theory

This is an agreement between the governed and the government defining and limiting the rights and duties of each.

Separation of Powers

This is the Constitutional principle that the law making, executive, and judicial powers be held by different groups and people.

Popular Sovereignty

This is the belief that the ultimate power of the government rests on the will of the people themselves.