Notes on Ball & Dagger reader
Thomas Jefferson (1776)
The Declaration of Independence

In reading this selection, pay attention to the following:

• What does Jefferson envision as the "state of nature", that is, the condition of human beings without government?
• What is the basis of the social contract?
• Given the reason stated that people form social contracts, what is government obligated to do in order to retain the allegiance of its citizens?  Or, to put it in reverse, when are citizens allowed to revolt on the grounds that the government has failed to fulfill its half of the bargain?

By the way, Jefferson was not the sole author of the Declaration, but he wrote the initial draft, and what he wrote constitutes the bulk of the document.

Lecture notes:

[On board:  Lockean liberalism;  classical liberalism;  problems w/ Hobbesian perspective;  a new, individualistic image of the state of nature;  a new contract;  rebellion & individualism;]

Quiz?  [Remind that "didn't read" = half credit]

We're now studying Lockean liberalism, the same as "classical liberalism".

Problem w/ Hobbesian perspective:  "might makes right".  Continuing problems w/ religion.

State of nature = o.k., individualistic

Contract = to provide mutual assurance (instead of a Hobbesian deterrence) but also (and primarily) to do even better.

Rebellion if government ceases to provide these things for me (the individual).  Self-interest, not collective interest.

This is all summarized neatly in the first couple of paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.

This is the philosophical foundation of our government, although the Constitution inevitably has a bit of a different emphasis — for example, not permitting (much less welcoming) revolution!

Note the litany of abuses mentioned in the latter part of the Declaration of Independence.  It was a propaganda document as much as a statement of principles.

Potential quiz questions:

• Name one of the complaints that the Declaration of Independence lodges against British rule of its American colonies.

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