The Constitution

A written agreement agreement ratified in 1781 by the thirteen original states; it provided a legal symbol of their union by giving the central government no coercive power over the states or their citizens.

The royal charter of political rights given to rebellious English barons by King John in 1215.

To approve and express assent, responsibility, or obligation.

To make something valid by formally confirming it:

Political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy.

An association of sovereign states that succedded from the union during the Civil War.

A voluntary agreement among individuals by which organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members.

He believed that the only true and correct form of government was the absolute monarchy. He argued this in his landmark work, Leviathan. Hobbes' philosophy was that human beings are, at their core, selfish creatures.

Two Treatises of Government, he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. He argued that people have rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, that have a foundation independent of the laws of any particular society.

French philosopher and writer of the Age of Enlightenment. His Political Philosophy, particularly his formulation of social contract theory.