 Government exists to provide structure to any society this is often done in the form of laws  This brings up the debate on the ideal balance between order and freedom  Unlimited freedom and absolute order have many drawbacks

 One difference in the political philosophies is how the authors of that philosophy see the human race

 Hobbes was one of the first political philosophers  In Leviathan (1651) Hobbes wrote that man was inherently evil  Because of this man needed to be ruled by an absolute monarch that would have the power to curb the evil impulses of the people

 Hobbes felt that the purpose of government was to keep society from falling into disorder and protect people from there own wicked ways

 Locke disagreed with Hobbes  He believed that human beings were inherently good and were able to reason  Locke believed that people had natural rights and that it was the role of the government to safeguard these rights

 In Treatises on Government (1690) Locke explored the idea of the Social Contract  This idea expressed the belief that unjust government was not to be endured by the people  In this case rebellion would be justified  Locke’s ideas were used to justify several rebellions in history

 Adam Smith theorized that a free economy could generate more wealth than a regulated economy  In The Wealth of Nations (1776) Smith cited three laws that he felt proved his position › The Law of Self Interest › The Law of Competition › The Law of Supply and Demand

 Smith was the economic equivalent of Locke  He preached economic liberty to accompany social freedoms  Smith saw the Free Market Economy as a natural, self-governing, self-sustaining system

 Montesquieu continued on the same grounds as Locke  In On the Spirit of Laws (1748) Montesquieu introduced the idea of Separation of Power  He felt that executive, legislative, and judicial needed to be separate for liberty to exist  “Power should check power”

 In this way no branch of government could become to powerful and become a threat to liberty  On the Spirit of Laws became the frame work for the constitution of the United States

 Like Locke, Rousseau also believed in the rights of man  But unlike Locke Rousseau believed that the people themselves should be dominant  His famous quote from The Social Contract (1762) “Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains” summed up his belief that liberty was natural and oppression was unnatural

 These new philosophies led to a shift in thinking in Europe and in North America  The ideas were based on reason instead of tradition

 Philosophers- › You will Research the Philosophers that we just talked about and complete the chart provided.