John Locke's Second Treatise, of Civil Government: Putting Sovereignty Into the Hands of the People

Locke's "Second Treatise, of Civil Government" has the main idea of putting sovereignty into the hands of the people, and this was one of the main ideas behind the constitution. It plays in very well, the framers built the government around the people, by making it a republic. On the national level all people are represented, and as it is divided down to state, county, city, etc. the people gain more power.

Albeit, there are many differing theories of the motives of the founding fathers, from God's hand on their minds to the Burkean conservatives they are. In between those are the theories of John P. Roche and Charles A. Beard but those differ almost as much as the God and Burkean theories. Roche thought the founding fathers were practical politicians and dedicated nationalists, and they were the best politicians of America's history. All of the success and decisions of the Constitution came from trade-offs and compromises made by each of the state delegations. Though some did gain from the Constitution, he stresses that it was only by coincidence, not from a collective conspiracy ...