Jennifer's+Analysis

[|American Constitution/Bill of Rights] [|Declaration of Independence] [|CHRIS GARDNER]

In history and today there are many occasions in which Hobbes ideas show up. The constitution was adopted on September 17,1787 and many of the ideas Hobbes expressed in the Leviathan showed up in the document that today governs our country. The constitution states our natural rights, the rights we are born with and like in the Leviathan it says all men are created equal. Though in 1787 when the constitution was written, the men that wrote it actually meant that these rights extended only to the male gender today the constitution does not exclude any religion, race or gender. //"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."// (fourteenth amendment). Another of Hobbes believes is that though men are born with equal talents in their life they never truly reach full equality in there lives therefore leading to constant war. This is true because it is shown all throughout history, all legal citizens of the united states have their rights but some people have more material goods than others: money, land, etc.

In the Declaration of Independence the ideas of Hobbes are also showed in it. //"**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, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable..."// In the Declaration of Independence, the document holds the same ideas as those of Hobbes for example: men are born with natural rights but that doesn't mean they have the same amount of material goods. Also men need someone to govern them but they must also hold the power to change it if they must.

Even today many of Hobbes ideas from the Leviathan apply, the major one being "nature of humanity leads people to seek power". Chris Gardner is an example of Hobbes idea because he went from being a "homeless single father to a self-made millionaire". He seeked power in the sense that he wanted a better life for himself and his son he used his talents to suceed in gettint a better life. //"The right of nature, which writers commonly call just naturale, is the liberty each man hath to use his own power as he will himself or the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life; and consequently, of doing anything which, in his own judgment and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto."//



JMartinez P4

Bibliography
 * "United States Constitution." 9 December,2007.Wikipedia.10 December,2007http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution#The_Bill_of_Rights_.281.E2.80.9310.29