What is compact theory in American history?
Broadly understood, compact theory is a political theory of founding polities and communities associated by Americans with the Mayflower Compact of 1620.
What did William Drayton say about the compact theory?
William Drayton, the chief justice of South Carolina, echoed a commonplace idea when he said that George III had "unkinged" himself by subverting the "constitution of this country, by breaking the original contract.…" The compact theory legitimated the right of revolution, as the Declaration of Independence made clear.
What is the compact theory of John C Calhoun?
Narrowly defined, compact theory is a legal theory advanced by John C. Calhoun and others, especially southerners, on the nature of the U.S. federal union as a compact of states. This article focuses on the latter conception. Three conclusions follow from the compact conception of American constitutionalism.
How did the compact theory of government affect the colonies?
The compact theory of government colored the thought and action of Americans during the colonial period and through the period of constitution making.
Who supported the compact theory?
Notable proponents of the theory include Thomas Jefferson. Under this theory and in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Jefferson claimed the federal government overstepped its authority, and advocated nullification of the laws by the states.
When was compact theory created?
Broadly understood, compact theory is a political theory of founding polities and communities associated by Americans with the Mayflower Compact of 1620.
What was the compact theory of the Constitution?
Proponents of compact theory argue that the Constitution was established on the same compact (government-to-government) basis. Proponents of the social contract theory of American federalism argue power was delegated to the national government directly from the people (not from state governments through a compact).
What does Locke mean by compact?
The setting up of government is much less important, Locke thinks, than this original social–political “compact.” A community surrenders some degree of its natural rights in favor of government, which is better able to protect those rights than any man could alone.
What is the social compact theory?
Social contract theory says that people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior. Some people believe that if we live according to a social contract, we can live morally by our own choice and not because a divine being requires it.
What was the social contract John Locke?
In simple terms, Locke's social contract theory says: government was created through the consent of the people to be ruled by the majority, “(unless they explicitly agree on some number greater than the majority),” and that every man once they are of age has the right to either continue under the government they were ...
What is the compact theory quizlet?
The compact theory is a theory relating to the development of the Constitution of the United States of America, claiming that the formation of the nation was through a compact by all of the states individually and that the national government is consequently a creation of the states.
What is the compact theory Apush?
compact theory. The idea advanced by Rousseau, Locke, and Jefferson, that government is created by voluntary agreement among the people involved and that revolution is justified if government breaks the compact by exceeding its authority.
What are the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and compact theory?
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799 in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.
What was Thomas Hobbes main ideas?
His main concern is the problem of social and political order: how human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict. He poses stark alternatives: we should give our obedience to an unaccountable sovereign (a person or group empowered to decide every social and political issue).
What was John Locke's theory of government?
To Locke, a Government existed, among other things, to promote public good, and to protect the life, liberty, and property of its people. For this reason, those who govern must be elected by the society, and the society must hold the power to instate a new Government when necessary.
What were Locke's 3 main ideas?
Locke famously wrote that man has three natural rights: life, liberty and property. In his “Thoughts Concerning Education” (1693), Locke argued for a broadened syllabus and better treatment of students—ideas that were an enormous influence on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's novel “Emile” (1762).
What is compact theory?
Compact theory is the subject of some confusion because there are at least two conceptions of it. Broadly understood, compact theory is a political theory of founding polities and communities associated by Americans with the May flower Compact of 1620 . One sees this theory expressed later, for example, in ...
When was Compact Theory buried?
Compact theory as a force in American constitutional politics was seemingly buried at Appomattox in 1865. During the second half of the nineteenth century and most of the twentieth century, when Americans argued about federalism, they relied on the structure of the Constitution rather than on claims that states are independent sovereigns.
What are the three conclusions of the compact conception of American constitutionalism?
Three conclusions follow from the compact conception of American constitutionalism. First, national powers are strictly limited, in that all powers remain in the states unless the federal Constitution explicitly declares otherwise. Second, states have the authority to nullify federal laws on constitutional grounds.
What did Hamilton think of Calhoun's compact?
Like many northerners of his time, Alexander Hamilton also held a compact view of the Constitution, but his understanding rejects Calhoun’s theory. In Federalist 22, Hamilton calls the idea that “a party to a compact has a right to revoke that compact” a “heresy.”. Yet, acknowledging that some people think a state may withdraw from the Articles ...
Who drafted the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions?
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 are the seminal expressions of this compact theory. They were drafted by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, respectively, as protests against Congress’s 1798 enactment of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Which document stated that the people are sovereign?
Maryland, 19 U.S. 316, 403 (18 19) had offered perhaps the canonical statement that the people are constitutionally sovereign in the United States. The Constitution, he stated, “was submitted to the people.
What is social compact theory?
An invention of political philosophers, the social contract or social compact theory was not meant as a historical account of the origin of government, but the theory was taken literally in America where governments were actually founded upon contract. The words "compact" and "contract" are synonymous ...
What is the compact theory of government?
One of the self-evident truths in the latter is "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.…". The compact theory of government colored the thought and action of Americans during the colonial period and through the period of constitution making.
What is the theory of prepolitical state of nature?
The theory hypothesizes a prepolitical state of nature in which people were governed only by the law of nature, free of human restraints. From the premise that man was born free, the deduction followed that he came into the world with God-given or natural rights.
Which was the first concrete application of the covenant theory to civil government?
They should first freely engage themselves in such covenants.…"The first concrete application of the covenant theory to civil government was the Mayflower Compact (1620).
Which theory of government justified the right to revolution?
The compact theory legitimated the right of revolution, as the Declaration of Independence made clear. Even before that declaration, colonial radicals contended that the Coercive Acts (see first continental congress) "have thrown us into a state of nature," and justified contracting for a new government.
When they established government, did they consent to its exercise of power?
The answer is that when they established government they consented to its exercise of power and agreed to obey it if it secured their rights. The compact theory has been remarkably fecund. From government by consent it led to political democracy.
Who was the King of America by virtue of a compact between us and the Kings of Great Britain?
The colonists also regarded their charters as compacts. As Hamilton said later, George III was "King of America, by virtue of a compact between us and the Kings of Great Britain .". These colonies, Hamilton explained, were settled under charters granted by kings who "entered into covenants with us.…".
Compact Theory: Security for American Liberty
A contract is a promise, or set of promises, between willing parties. The law of contracts is a body of law as old as the Anglo-American division of law and equity. When a contract is breached, law and equity provide remedies.
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Overview
Arguments in favor
Leading proponents of this view of the U.S. Constitution primarily originated from Virginia and other southern states. Notable proponents of the theory include Thomas Jefferson. Under this theory and in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Jefferson claimed the federal government overstepped its authority, and advocated nullification of the laws by the states. The first resolution of the Kentucky Resolutions began by stating:
Supreme Court rulings
The US Supreme Court has rejected the idea that the Constitution is a compact among the states. Rather, the Court has stated that the Constitution was established directly by the people of the United States, not by the states. In one of the Supreme Court's first significant decisions, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), Chief Justice John Jay stated that the Constitution was established directly by the people. Jay noted the language of the Preamble of the Constitution, which states that the Co…
Arguments against
Others have taken the position that the federal government is not a compact among the states but was instead formed directly by the people in their exercise of their sovereign power. The people determined that the federal government should be superior to the states. Under this view, the states are not parties to the Constitution and do not have the right to determine for themselves the proper scope of federal authority but instead are bound by the determinations of the federal …
Influence on American Civil War
In the years before the Civil War, the compact theory was used by southern states to argue that they had a right to nullify federal law and to secede from the union. For example, during the Nullification Crisis of 1828-1832, John C. Calhoun argued in his South Carolina Exposition and Protest that the states, as the parties to a compact, had the right to judge for themselves whether the terms of the compact were being honored. Calhoun described this "right of judging" as "an es…
See also
• States' rights
• Classical republicanism
• Interposition
• Social contract