The Influencing Factors On The Foundation Of

Our Country Essay, Research Paper

The Influencing Factors On The Foundation Of Our Country

In the following document I will be showing the ties between several of the most famous political philosophers, as well as documents that played a large role in changing the governments of the time. Ultimately it was the forethought and actions of our founding fathers in using these resources that has created what is now a prosperous country.

It was John Locke, one of the most influential men of the 1700’s, who made the statement, ” When the prince only makes use of his due prerogative The People shall be judge.” Which lead to the idea of the government needing the consent of the people through a contract. Another influence was Montesquieu, who provided inspiration for the system of checks and balances as well as the federalist structure that can be found in the United States Constitution. Which was put into place in order to protect the covenant the people of the United States made with their government. An inspiration for our agreement was the covenant at Shechem, which was recorded in the Book of the Law of God. After the covenant was made, Joshua said to the people of Israel “This will be witness against us. It has heard all of the words the Lord has said to us. It will be witness against you if you are untrue to your god.” This in essence is what our constitution does. Another example of a covenant that had an impact on the formation of our government, was the Mayflower Compact. The reason I say that impacted the formation of our government is that in the reading, it states “And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, , as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the community.” It was this idea of the general good that was the inspiration for our Declaration of independence. Another influence for the Declaration of Independence was the Magna Charta, which was the turning point in the British government. It turned the present Tyranny into a monarchy that had a form of parliament, which was supposed to keep the peoples interests in mind, and the king at bay.

The ideals of governments as described by Polybius and Aristotle were the starting point of our government. First Aristotle didn’t like the idea of a democracy, in fact in his paper on the Types of Government, he said “Democracy (in the sense of mob rule) with a view to the advantage of those who are poor; none of them is with a view to the common gain.” After two hundred years passed Polybius had the idea of achieving political stability through a mixed government, which struck a note with our founding fathers. Polybius also had a different view about democracy, he thought that it was a good form of government, and that mob rule would only occur if the government/society became corrupt.

In conclusion the founders of our government were influenced by quite a number of factors when they were in the process of forming our government. This is a vital element in the success of our country.