<u>This portion of the text shows Hobbes supported an absolute ruler:</u>
<em>Men are continually in competition for honour and dignity . . . and consequently amongst men there ariseth on that ground, envy, and hatred, and finally war. ... No wonder if there be somewhat else required, besides [contract], to make their agreement constant and lasting; which is a common power to keep them in awe and to direct their actions to the common benefit.
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The only way to erect such a common power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another . . . is to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will.</em>
Further detail:
Thomas Hobbes published a famous work called Leviathan in 1651. The title "Leviathan" comes from a biblical word for a great and mighty beast. Hobbes believed government is formed by people for the sake of their personal security and stability in society. In Hobbes' view, once the people put a king (or other leader in power), then that leader needs to have supreme power (like a great and mighty beast). Hobbes' view of the natural state of human beings without a government held that people are too divided and too volatile as individuals -- everyone looking out for his own interests. So for security and stability, authority and the power of the law needs to be in the hands of a powerful ruler like a king or queen. And so people willingly enter a "social contract" in which they live under a government that provides stability and security for society.
People came for a variety of reasons, including economy, adventure, health, and philosophical notions such as Manifest Destiny. During the early 1830s affluence, Americans gambled heavily on the land, resulting in the Panic of 1837 and the following downturn.
The political system of Central and Northern Italy was characterized by the city states great fragmentation and spirit of autonomy. This situation constituted an insuperable obstacle to any prospect of national unification and a serious barrier even to the formation of smaller state organizations such as the regional states into which Italy later consolidated.
