Covenanted Governments Essay Research Paper The covenant

Covenanted Governments Essay, Research Paper

The covenant is very dear to our modern world, being that many political philosophers that shaped our modern world based much of their theories on a covenanted government. When looking at the United States, the theory was considered important from the Mayflower Compact and on. The theory of a covenanted people is associated with Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau. Our framers took all of the aforementioned history and philosophy in account to develop our virgin nation. The concept of a covenant and covenanted form of government has greatly metamorphisised over time into nations such as ours. The thoughts of its origins are also very electric and diverse. Despite all of these idiosyncrasies, there runs a common thread through a compact form of government, and that is power is in the hand of a sovereign and all involved in the government are there by tactic consent.

Around the time the pilgrims rebelled against King James in England, philosophy was abundant, especially that influenced by the belief in god. A majority of the governments around the world were monarchies. As far as our country is concerned, the pilgrims were the first to establish a covenanted government with the Mayflower Compact. This compact stated that all aboard the ship headed for the new city of God , were under the rule of God. Here is the clincher: even though it was a government under the rule of God, the agreement was that the people in God s name would run the institutions of government. People executed God s will his permission . In these times, people believe that they were carrying out God s name and very will. These people weren t bound together by caprice and whim, but for and out of necessity and deep-rooted religious beliefs. They formed a civil body politics so they may increase their chances at survival.

The next vital document that was created in the New World was the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. This document was closely related to the Mayflower Compact in that it was made in the name of God, it established a theocracy. This document brought people together in a tacit agreement that they would obey the word of God, as interpreted by the people and the sovereign appointed (a magistrate). The fundamental Orders and the Mayflower Compact are very distinct from the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution in that they are theocracies. The people governed the letter two of the aforementioned; religion played little or no importance. Even the philosophers that helped shape our government left God out of their text, placing man natural law before God.

John Locke was one of the influential philosophers upon government. He advocated and wrote a dissertation on the compact theory of government. He believed that humans formed together to escape the hand to mouth state of nature. Absolute freedom was the only rule that governed, and man needed more than that, he needed control. Man desired property and material wealth they desired to acquire it. Out of sheer loathing for absolute freedom and the factious need for material wealth, man came together to form a community. Absolute freedom was tacitly given up in exchange for the protection of human life and property. Rules were made and followed, thus necessitating the need for a government. Yet who does one follow and why. The people governed the people. Common man made up the rules to follow and others followed them because they made them and they were in their interest (property). Government became a contract between man and man. It protected individual rights (natural rights) in exchange for freedom. How is this possible. According to the rational behind this, man is obviously very ambitions and greedy, desiring things of the world, and seeing himself as an individual outside of nature. He sees himself above nature. He defines his world and everything is there for him to use, at his disposal. That is why property was one of the underlying reasons for government, because man is interested only in himself and material again. Society supplied the allowance for property as well as the grounds for keeping it. This was the liberty allowed. Liberty and freedom were not pure, for they were supplemented by rules. Rules that supported socialization and individuation. Faction could be realized thus why people supported and enforced this way of government. The essential thing to remember is this was before certain men could rise above others and gain more power and influence.

Another influential philosopher of covenanted government was Thomas Hobbes. He also thought that, at first, man existed in pure state of nature, a war of all against all. He desired to emerge out of this state because he feared for his life and wished to escape the ever-impending hands of death. Hobbes felt that people again tacitly got together and formed a body of government to which they transferred some of their power. Power was transferred because of the need for security and to make life less nasty, short, solitary, poor, and brutish . The fundamental difference here is that Hobbes believed that power was transferred to a sovereign individual. Yet this individual wasn t an autocrat, they were made of the people and therefore executed their will. Chaos would have (once again) been the mode for life, if order was not established. So once again it is seen that people got together out of necessity and tacitly