Question

Social Contract Theory holds that governments get their power from the people, and that if the government no longer serves the people it can be overthrown. Which of these offers the BEST example of Social Contract Theory in practice in America?

Answer 1

Social contract theory, nearly as old as philosophy itself, is the view that persons' moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live.

The theory of an implicit social contractholds that by remaining in the territory controlled by some society, which usually has a government, people give consent to join that society and be governed by its government, if any. This consent is what gives legitimacy to such government.