For thousands of years, humans have grouped together for the purpose of survival, these groups changed drastically throughout the ages, morphing from nomadic hunters and gatherers to small farming villages, then large communities, and even grand civilizations that promoted technological advancement. One major issue among all early human civilizations is the lack of order and the violation of the most basic of human rights. These problems were solved by the creation of a government, a ruling body that protects its citizens and their rights in exchange for their loyalty.
Since the times of even the most basic governments, civilization have experimented with every type of government imaginable such as monarchy, communist, authoritarian, or democracy.
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The Social Contract Theory is a popular solution to that question, and several prominent philosophers have put forth their own variation of the postulate. The theory centers around the idea that a government is formed when the people give up some of their rights to a governing body who then use their power, given to them by the people, to protect the people and their rights, hence the contract part of Social Contract Theory. The idea also states that because the people gave the governing body the power it uses to rule, the people reserve the right, if the government abuses its power and infringes on the rights of the people, to abolish or edit the old government, so that serves the people and not itself (Locke, 1690). The Social Contract Theory is so influential that several nations, including the US, have implemented various forms of the idea into their own constitutions. For instance, contained within the US constitution there is a document known as the bill of rights, which outlines the undeniable rights of every US citizen, for example, the first amendment protects the people’s right to free speech, religion, assembly, etc. ("The Bill of Rights: A Transcription"). The fact that government would willing give up authority in order to ensure the rights of its citizens emphasizes the idea that the US government holds the protection …show more content…
Wade in which a woman who wished to terminate a pregnancy was denied by a district attorney in Texas, citing a law at the time which stated that it was illegal for a woman to have an abortion in the state unless the pregnancy directly endangered the life of the mother. The case was brought all the way to the US supreme court where it was decided that abortions were protected under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, and that laws infringing on a woman's right to an abortion were unconstitutional (The Washington Post). This decision was particularly important because the supreme court, the highest court in the land, decided, that a woman had the right to do what she pleased with her body, including when she was pregnant, and that no state could attempt to infringe on that right by banning it. The government, in this circumstance, used its power to ensure that the rights of all citizens could not be infringed upon by state
We often wonder about the importance of government. Is it necessary? Does it really benefit society? The answer is yes. Many countries have diverse forms of government such as totalitarian, monarchy, theocracy, and much more. The United States of America specifically runs a democratic type of government. A democratic government gives power to the people. Citizens over the age of eighteen are allowed to elect leaders based on their individual opinions through voting rights. The main purpose of the American government is, to protect people’s inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness as our Founding Fathers intended.
Society’s structure has been debated and contested as far back as ancient Greece. Since then, man has developed social systems that greatly differ from anything the ancients had in mind. One such system is the social contract theory, which first came to prominence around the time of the enlightenment. Simplified, social contractarians argued that in order to achieve a balanced and stable society, all of its members must sacrifice certain liberties to a government or similar authority. As Rousseau explains, the contract begins when “Each of us places his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will” (148). Essentially, it is an agreement between the rulers and the ruled that produces a stable political state. John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract are both enlightenment works that detail contractarianism, yet each has a unique and different way of considering the social contract. Although John Stuart Mill is also known for his work with Utilitarianism, his essay On Liberty considers consent and other issues relating to contract theory. These authors provide different insights into the social contract, and frequently one will reject another’s idea and offer a new solution. Even after this meshing of ideas and solutions, contract theory falls short of practicality. The idea is appealing, appearing on the surface as a fair and just way of governance. However, true liberty cannot arise from a contract, as man cannot be “forced to be free” (150). There are two fundamental flaws with contractarianism: it is not practical and it ignores human nature, and even if were possible to establish a true contract-based society, the citi...
Roe v. Wade is court case of 1973 in which the Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy. Before the Court's ruling, a majority of states prohibited abortion but most allowed an exception when pregnancy threatened the woman's life. The Court overturned these state bans in Roe v. Wade. The Court ruled that states could restrict abortions only during the final three months of pregnancy. The decision was strongly endorsed by many women's rights groups. However, it was fiercely opposed by many others of whom said that life begins at conception.
George Mason explains that when a man has power, he does not use that power with discernment. Once that power is in his hands, he will only crave for more. The nature of power to man is to utilize that power and gain more and more. Mankind are selfish and will only focus on their interests first and forget about the interests of people. A man will do whatever it takes to gain that power. Power is like an addiction, once you acquire a little bit of it, you will only want more. In summarization, man is currently power-hungry and has been power hungry from the beginning of time and will continue to be power-hungry till the end of ages. For this a government is needed and a constitution that all people will be able to comply with and this is the biggest safeguard. Everyone, regardless of their position will have to follow the constitution. The constitution keeps everything fair and is a good safeguard because with this no one will be oppressed and no one will be able to get too powerful either, so it's balanced and fair to everyone. Today this system is valid, because in the current news you can see that people are still very power-hungry and
Ultimately, Roe v. Wade is the case that brought about the legalization of abortion. At this time all of the United States prohibited abortion, as previously stated it was only prohibited if it were to save a woman’s life, or for a handful of reasons such as instances of rape, incest, or fetal abnormality. Roe helped make these laws illegitimate, which made abortion services safer and more accessible to women all over the country. The decision was also set as a legal precedent that affected more than thirty future Supreme Court cases involving restrictions on abortion. The ruling of the case brought up the shift of American tradition and noted that times were officially changing.
Roe v. Wade developed Civil Right in the United States by enhancing the right to privacy, making abortions legal and securing the health of a mother. Abortions should be legal as long as they do not cause any harm to the mother. Although abortions lead to the death of an unborn fetus, the benefits may be financial. It is the mother’s choice to choose whether or not she wants to terminate her child or not. Having a child is a big responsibility to take care of that not everyone can handle or take care of appropriately.
Everyone is born with certain right that can't be taken away. Thanks to the Declaration of Independence they all have the natural rights to, Life, Liberty, and Property. People agree to obey certain laws in exchange for safety. When people give their consent to obey laws, they change to a legitimate government. The government carries out laws, the purpose of the government is to protect people's natural rights. To gain the safety and protection that the state of nature lacks, people come together to form a social contract. The consent of people made the government, so they
The landmark case on abortion was Roe vs Wade. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a historic case in which the United States supreme court overturned Texas interpretation of abortion laws. This decision legalized abortion in all 50 states. The Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy before the fetus acquires viability and that a fetus is not a person under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, two young and ambitious attorneys, filed the suit on behalf of Norma McCovery using the alias of Jane Roe. The suit alleged that the abortion law in Texas violated her constitutional rights and the rights of all women. The current state law at the time of this
Wade by NEH Hull and Peter Charles Hoffer they state “thus before abortion because the object of law it was a subject of everyday life” (Hull & Hoffer 12). Meaning that any female that found out she was pregnant was able to get an abortion but then suffered the consequences of something going wrong. In the United States around eighteen hundred abortions became illegal, due to the lack of medical education, procedures and surgeries because they were very dangerous. As time came later medical advancements were made but women still had to rely on the back alley abortions which resulted in harming thousands of women. Abortion or premature termination of pregnancy can be accidental or on purpose. Both types of abortions can be legal or illegal. If the ongoing pregnancy becomes a medical threat, abortion is not illegal. Legal developments along with health care services are intertwined with each other. The American Medical Association stated that abortions were wrong and unsafe which made the National Abortion Federation make abortion into a “physicians- only” practice because they could be performed legally in order to save a women’s life. (National Abortion Federation NAF) It wasn’t until 1973 that abortions were made legal in the United States due to the “Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade ruling that Americans’ right to privacy included the right of a woman to decide whether to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference” (NAF). In 1965, almost 300 deaths occurred due to illegal abortions, and of all pregnancy-related complications in New York and California, 20% were due to abortions. “If the US Supreme Court found constitutional grounds to extend the birth control cases’ logic that women’s bodies belonged to the women themselves, the concept of choice would become a core value in constitutional law.” (Hull & Hoffer
The Roe v. Wade case originated in the state of Texas in 1970 at the suggestion of Sarah Weddington an Austin attorney. Norma McCorvey otherwise known as "Jane Roe" was an unmarried pregnant woman seeking to overturn the anti-abortion law in the state of Texas. The lawsuit claimed that the statue was unconstitutionally vague and abridged privacy rights of pregnant women guaranteed by the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments to the constitution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade)
Wade was “the fetal right to life against a woman’s right to privacy,” and which right gets priority (“Roe v. Wade.” Roe v. Wade). An unmarried pregnant woman, Norma McCorvey, but known as Jane Roe, sought an abortion in the state of Texas where abortion, by law, was a criminal offense. Roe challenged the Texas statute arguing that it was unconstitutional (Landmark Supreme Court Cases 2). At the same time of Roe’s challenges, young lawyers, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, were seeking a plaintiff to challenge the Texas abortion laws. The trial did not end in time for Roe to get an abortion, but she kept fighting for future women in her same situation ("Roe vs Wade." TheFreeDictionary.com). Up against the District Attorney of Dallas, Texas, and Henry Wade, Jane Roe argued that the statutes regarding abortion were unconstitutionally vague and violated her first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment rights (Landmark Supreme Court Cases 4). Roe was “unable to have a ‘legal’ abortion in Texas because her life did not appear to be threatened by the continuation of her pregnancy” (Landmark Supreme Court Cases 2). Although other jurisdictions offered legal abortions, Roe argued that she could not afford to travel to another jurisdiction and that she had a right to have an abortion “performed by a competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions” (Landmark Supreme Court Cases 2). Texas refuted the use of the
The Roe vs. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. It invalidated all state laws limiting women's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy based on the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights. The Court's decision in this case was that the Ninth Amendment, "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people," protected a person's right to privacy.
The Roe v. Wade case, brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, resulted in the Court’s determination that women have the constitutional right to have an abortion prior to when the fetus is viable, meaning when it can survive on its own outside the woman’s womb. Since this decision was handed down, Roe v. Wade has been the subject of a constant, divisive public and political debate regarding its moral, ethical and constitutional merits. The plaintiff, Norma McCorvey, who represented all women who are pregnant in the case, used the alias “Jane Roe.” The defendant was the county of Dallas, Texas. Roe’s claim charged that the abortion law in Texas was in violation of the constitutional rights of her and all other pregnant women. The Supreme
In 1971 Linda Coffee and Sarah Wellington sued on Norma McCorvey behalf, arguing that the state of Texas abortion law was unconstitutional. Defending the state of Texas was Henry Wade, district attorney of Dallas. The state of Texas only allowed abortions in cases where the mother’s life was at risk or the women was sexually assaulted. After two years of hearing evidence, the US Supreme Court affirms legality, a women’s right to abort, and that a right to privacy being implied by the Ninth and Fourteenth amendments in a 7-2 decision in 1973. It had encompassed a woman’s decision whether or not to stop her pregnancy. No states could restrict abortion during first three months or trimester of a pregnancy.
From elementary to high school and even college students are compelled to attend school all around the world. In schools students not only learn general education but learn a lot about themselves. It is said that in the first twenty years of an individual’s life are the years that the individual finds out who they really are. An individual’s moral beliefs are one of the most personal and complex pieces of that individual. There are several great moral theories that could be taught in school, but to only choose one is very difficult. Some of the most known moral theories are Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics, Kantianism and even Social Contract Theory. All of these theories were developed by some of the most incredible philosophers of all time.