Write a 600-word (2 page, double-spaced) summary of each day’s material, including: (a) a brief summary and analysis of the day’s reading; (b) any questions or concerns you have about the day’s materi

– As a corollary: all authority has to be justified to those subject to it — this is the fundamental liberal principle. Natural Law = Theological Law • Locke’s theory was for a religious world. • God gave us the world so we could flourish. • We have a natural right to use this world — to make it our property — in order to achieve flourishing.

– But God gives the world to “mankind in common.” – How do individuals come to own bits of it? Natural Property • The source of property: “mixing with labor”: – Example: selling a tree vs. selling firewood • Two limits on our property rights:

1. The Proviso: must leave “as much and as good” for others. Based on the assumption of cornicopianism . 2. No suicide — you are God’s property. The Need for Government • Thomas Hobbes (1588 -1679) argued that life without government was awful:

– War of all against all – “Nasty, poor, brutish, and short” • Locke is more positive – Pre -political life is still orderly and governed by natural law – Politics solves coordination problems (traffic lights) and how to regulate punishment for already - recognized laws. The Social Contract • To deal with coordination and punishment, we consent to government — make a contract. • We enter into government to coordinate the protection of our “property,” broadly defined as our “lives, liberties, and estates” – Anything beyond this is too much: limited government. Emigration and Revolution • Over time, consent passes from explicit to tacit.

– We tacitly consent simply by sticking around. – Problem: but where else could we go? • If government continually oversteps, we have the right to revolution.

– Etymology of “revolution”: return to original. Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” (early 1776) • “Locke Lite” : took many of Locke’s ideas, and put them in simpler, easier to comprehend language. • The pamphlet was a widespread success: sold half a million copies, Washington had it read to his troops. Society vs. Government: Paine’s State of Nature Argument • Initial situation – =magine a “small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconcerned with the rest.” • Foundation of Society – They would soon form a society based on mutual need, and mutual aid. • Foundation of Government – As society grows, coordination problems accrue. They thus create regulations, and government as a way of enforcing these regulations. Forms of Government • Good: Representative Government – Given the size and complexity of most societies, everyone can’t be involved in every decision: we have elected representatives. • Bad: Monarchy and Aristocracy – All men are born equal; no one has natural authority over anyone else. – Authority comes from consent of one’s equals, not from birth. Paine’s (and Locke’s) Radicalism • Paine here rejects the entirety of British government: rotten down to the core.

– Advocates a return, not to the fundamentals of British citizenship, but to pre -political society 1. Philosophical Foundations, 2:

David Hume and Edmond Burke • Background – =n contrast with Locke and Paine’s foundationalism — that is, their attempts to ground political authority on philosophical foundations — Hume and Burke offer conservative justifications for political authority, based on tradition. – Instead of abstract philosophical principals, conservatism is based on concrete legal and cultural history. David Hume, “Of the Original Contract” (1748) • Types of Political Justification 1. Tories claim that just authority ultimately comes from the deity 2. Whigs claim that just authority comes from consent or a “social contract” • Like all conservatives, Hume rejects both “foundational” justifications Critique of Divine Right • Asserts (allows?) that God created the world and generally holds it all together. • But what does this prove?

1. All earthly things come from God. 2. From (1): all earthly powers come from God. 3. But if (2) is true, then divine right justifies the rule of anyone who can grab power. 4. Divine right cannot justify the power of some but not others. Critique of the Social Contract • As with divine, accepts the basic idea, but discounts its contemporary relevance.

– Because humans are generally of equal physical strength, intelligence, etc , initial authority must have rested on consent. • Cf : Hobbes – But government arises when initially fragile power over people coalesces into a preponderance of force. Hume’s Empiricism: How Government Really Works • Look at the world. Why do governments persist?

– Conquest – Succession – Habit – The threat of violence • :ume suggests that, ultimately, it’s force all the way down. But what about the contract as a moral device? • After Locke: contracts of the parents do not automatically bind the children. • Need tacit consent . – But, contra Locke, there’s no tacit consent because there’s no alternative to staying. – The contract argument gets things backward: we find authority first, and consent to it later. Why, then, should we obey? • :ume’s conservative justification for authority:

1. Life without authority is terrible: we need someone to be in charge. 2. Although it may have problems, the preexisting system of authority we’re born into has proven itself. 3. If changes need to be made, make them from within — revolutions rarely work out. Edmund Burke and the French Revolution • Background: Revolution vs. Restoration – Burke argues that the U.S. Revolution is best understood as a restoration • In the Declaration, founders relied on already accepted “self -evident” truths • These truths — life, liberty, happiness — were well established in English life: Magna Carta (1215) – The French Revolution entirely replaced the ancient regime Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797) • Burke had (reservedly) supported the American Revolution. • But in 1790, just after a year after the storming of the Bastille, published Reflections on the Revolution in France – Another idea of contract: “[Society is] a partnership not only between those who are living but also between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” The Intergenerational Contract • After Hume: society is held together by “inarticulate habits of belief and affection.” • We do not care for humanity in general: we care for specific humans to whom we have specific attachments.

– Example : Bernard Williams on saving one’s wife or the Archduke of Canterbury. – :annah Arendt: “the abstract nakedness of being nothing but human” Three Criticisms of Revolution 1. Revolutions are costly : after Thomas Aquinas, the suffering prevented must be bigger than the suffering caused 2. The natural is what naturally occurs : revolutions seek to overthrow the natural order, and impose a synthetic one. 3. Critique of secularism : religion unifies us, gives us a common language and a common life, which can then ground our further projects. 2. The Paradox of Colonial Authority John Adams, “ Novanglus ” (1775) • Revolutionary leader, first Vice President, and second President of the United States. • Makes a conservative argument for revolution:

– Britain is a republic, not an empire. – As a republic, it must extend self -government rights to the colonies. Republican Consent • Adams assumes that governments only serve at the consent of the governed.

– If the colonies are to be part of Britain, they should have full representation in parliament. – But this is impractical, given the practical problem of distance. • Colonists have historically seen themselves as separate:

– “Ancient Massachusettensians and Virginians” understood themselves to be founding a new state, which fell under the crown only insofar as they consented to the crown. 3. Authority in The Declaration of Independence • “ We hold these truths to be self -evident , that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these, are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed .” The Question of Revolution • “Prudence” dictates that bonds should not be broken with every little infraction. Infractions must be systematic. – List of complaints against the British. • Are these complaints, like Adams suggests, about the British violating their own rules, or are they, like Paine suggests, complaints about the British violating natural law? 4. From Confederation to Constitution Articles of Confederation (1778) • History:

– Drafted in 1776, directly after the Declaration, to (1) help coordinate the states in war, and (2) provide international standing for the union – Not adopted until 1778 – Superseded by the new constitution in 1789 • Major difference from current Constitution: the looseness of the union.

– The colonies had been relatively autonomous before the war, and the Articles attempted to preserve this autonomy. A Union of “Mutual Friendship” • Seeks to preserve the “sovereignty, freedom and independence” of every state (art. 2) • Provides only specific, relatively small powers to the Confederation itself:

– States must allow equal treatment and freedom of movement (art. 4) – Only Confederation can conduct international affairs, including war (arts. 6 -9) • States given equal representation • Canada (Quebec) can join if they affirm the Articles (art. 11) Problems • Paralysis: the Treaty of Paris (1783) ending the Revolutionary War languished in Congress, as state representatives didn’t show up. • Taxation: federal government couldn’t tax states; it could only request money.

– This led to military weakness: removing British forts • Interstate commerce : states incurred private debts to foreign powers. Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 23 (1787): National Strength • After British domination, Americans were sensitive to large governments dominating local governments. • Hamilton’s argument is that bigness is necessary to achieve goals we all desire:

– The common defense of members – The preservation of public peace against internal and external threats – The regulation of commerce with other nations and between the States – A unified foreign policy