The American Founding and the Social Compact

The American Founding and the Social Compact is a first-rate collection of essays that examine the shared political ideas of the American Founders with a particular focus on the theory of the social compact. As this volume so convincingly argues, an understanding of social compact theory is essential for understanding the Founders' ideas about human nature, government and politics.

Unlike many other books about the American founding, this new work by two of the most prominent scholars of American political history emphasizes the coherence and intelligibility of the social compact theory. Social compact theory, the idea that government must be based on an agreement between those who govern and those who consent to be governed, was one of the Founders' few unifying philosophical positions, and it transcended the partisan politics of that era. Contributors to this volume present a comprehensive overview of the social compact theory, discussing its European philosophical origins, the development of the theory into the basis of the fledgling government, and the attitudes of some of the founders toward the theory and its traditional proponents. The authors argue forcefully and convincingly that the political ideas of the American Founders cannot be properly understood without understanding social compact theory and the exalted place it held in the construction of the American system of government.

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Locke on the Social Compact: An Overview
Chapter 3 Contribution of William Blackstone
Chapter 4 Hume, Historical Inheritance, and the Problem of Founding
Chapter 5 The Political Theory of the Declaration of Independence
Chapter 6 Thomas Jefferson and the Social Compact
Chapter 7 From Subjects to Citizens: The Social Compact Origins of American Citizenship
Chapter 8 Alexander Hamilton and the Grand Strategy of the American Social Compact
Chapter 9 John Adams's Hobbism
Chapter 10 Benjamin Franklin and the Theory of Social Compact