Question

How does the Declaration of Independence reflect the political principle described in the “Social Contract Theory” art in the next column.

Answer 1

The Declaration asserts that to secure their individual rights, the people institute governments for themselves -- that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed." This phrase focuses on the idea of a social contract - that our agreement to live under a government is an implicit pact between the governors and the governed.

Social contract theory was argued by English philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in the 17th century. American founding fathers took a number of their ideas from the political philosophy of John Locke. Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government put forth his social contract theory and design for a representative form of government.

Answer 2

It reflects it because it points to the fact that people are unsatisfied with the king and they want self-governance. The social contract is that people choose their leaders and if the leaders are bad then they change them, and here they didn't choose their leader but they chose to change him and put someone new who would be good for them.