Thomas Hobbes View On Government

Different people have different perspectives on government. There is always a purpose for creating a government, but different governments have different powers allotted to them. Throughout history, governments have changed and adapted to the people and environments. Many events of the past have made an impact on our current government. A government is created for many purposes, has powers allotted to a variety of people, and gives the country’s citizens and states certain rights. For generations, people have argued about the need for a government. One of the main purposes of a government is to make citizens feel protected. Beyond this factor though is where it becomes complicated. The foundation of a government is formed from the people who established it. Some people believe a government is there to help protect the people in the country, while others believe it is there to be the sole power of the country. In Two Treatises, John Locke states his opinion about a more democratic government very clearly. Locke believes that the government is there to protect the people’s rights and that everyone should be treated equally. Thomas Hobbes is a polar opposite of Locke. In Hobbes’ document Leviathan, he makes it evident that he would rather have a dictatorship or a monarchy. Hobbes views the state of
nature as a nasty thing and thinks the government is put in place to protect the people from themselves. Another purpose of the government is to give different rights to its citizens and states.
Governments like a dictatorship have limited rights for its citizens, while democracies are more lenient towards the citizens. In Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, Paine fights for rights of the common man. Paine was a Federalist, which meant he supported a strong, central government. Federalists did not believe a Bill of Rights was necessary to protect the people. Antifederalists on the other hand, believed that the Bill of Rights was completely necessary. They also believed that there should be no strong central government for fear that it would become a
monarchy. Giving different people, states, and branches power is another purpose of the government. Over time, the powers of the government have changed and adapted to the people and the economy. The Articles of Confederation was the first attempt at an organized government. It was very weak because it gave the states too much power. The Declaration of Independence was a letter to the King stating why the colonists were upset because the American people started to get frustrated with taxes, housing soldiers, trade, etc. The Constitution is our current government that our Founding Fathers came up with as a solution to start the new country. It is set up as a central, federal government, which means that the President and the two branches of government have power. A beneficial government can make it or break it for a country. For a government to work properly, it has to be created for the right purposes, distribute powers accordingly amongst the people involved, and it has to give its citizens and states fair rights. A government is the basis for a country, and without it, life would be very chaotic.