Social Contract was to secure Order and Freedom, we may say that the Resistance may be used when it is necessary to preserve the Order and the Freedom which are guaranteed by the Social Contract.

This leads us again to inquire what the terms of the Social Contract are: but before we answer this question, we shall consider another purpose for which this, or equivalent phrases, are employed.

896. Such phrases have, in modern times, been used in the Preambles of various Codes of National Law; and especially in the Prefaces to the Constitutions of the States of North America. Thus, the Constitution of New Jersey begins by declaring that "All the Constitutional Authority ever possessed by the kings of Great Britain over their dominions was by Compact derived from the people, and held of them for the common interest of the whole Society." The Constitution of Connecticut declares that "all men, when they form a social Compact, are equal in Rights;" and the Constitutions of some of the other States have like expressions. Now here it is plain, that the word "Compact" is employed in order to conciliate to the Law the regard of men fond of Freedom. The Lovers of Liberty can readily obey a Law which is a Compact among themselves; though they would resist with indignation a Law imposed by another. And accordingly, the Laws, which are thus prefaced, are rigourously enforced, without exciting any discontent among the freemen of North America.

897. Now if, in these instances, we inquire what are the terms of the Compact which is thus spoken of, the answer will evidently be, that the Compact is the Constitution itself, of which we have quoted the introductory phrases. The written Constitutions of the respective United States, which thus begin by speaking of a Compact, by which Civil Society is held together, do themselves contain the Articles of this Compact, In these Cases, we have

the Social Contract in a distinct, manifest, and compendious form.

898. Further; it is plain, that in these cases the Social Contract is not merely, like the Original Contract of the Act which deposed James the Second, a Contract between the King and People. Nor is it a Contract between the Governors and Governed; for the Governors, in such Constitutions, cannot be looked upon as a separate party. The Contract is a Compact among the Citizens in general, expressing the political relations of each to each. It is a Contract between every man and all others within its compass. And accordingly, this is expressed in the Constitution of Massachusetts: "The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals. It is a Social Compact by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain Laws for the common good." The Social Compact, that is, the Constitution, determines the Rights and Obligations, not merely of the Governors, but of all persons and all Classes: at least so far as the Fundamental Rules and Maxims of Rights are concerned.

899. But since, in these States, the Terms of the Social Contract, concerning which we were inquiring, are to be found in the Constitution, we must, for the like reasons, look for the Terms of the Social Contract of any other State in its Constitution, that is, in the Collection of the Fundamental Rules and Maxims of Rights, and especially of Political Rights (210). For that the Constitution of any Country has not been authoritatively promulgated in a compendious written form, but is to be gathered from various Sources, in various forms, does not alter the nature of its obligation. If the Social Compact of New England be its Constitution, the Social Compact of Old England must be its Constitution.

The Constitution is, in each case, the Collection of Fundamental Rules and Maxims of Rights, and especially Political Rights: in each case, it is the Common Understanding by which the Laws of Order and Freedom are bound together.

900. Thus the Social Contract, being the Constitution of the Country, is different in different Countries, and in all, contains a great number of Articles and Clauses. The Social Contract is not merely some one or two Maxims, respecting Protection, or Property, or Personal Liberty, or the like. It is a wide and complex collection of Arrangements and Provisions for defining and securing to men their Rights. The security of the Rights is the object of the Contract; the Contract itself is the Collection of Arrangements and Provisions.

901. Moreover, if some one of these Articles or Clauses be violated by any party, the Contract is not thereby annulled. For all the other parties, it is not even disturbed; and the party who is guilty of the breach of Contract is not necessarily to be punished by declaring the Contract void for him ; but is to be judged by the rest of the community; and visited with penalties provided by the Constitution itself; or else, with inflictions devised for the exigence of the occasion.

902. And this is the manner in which the Social Contract has been understood in this Country, even when it has been referred to in seasons of Resistance and Revolution. In the deposition of James the Second, though he was deposed as having broken the Original Contract of King and People, still the Original Contract, which gave the Houses of Parlia ment, and the Magistrates of the Land, their Authority, was looked upon as undisturbed; and all parties, except the King, retained and exercised the powers of their Stations. The English Constitution, like that of Massachusetts, of which we have quoted the

description (898), was held to be a Compact by which each citizen covenants with the whole people, and the whole people with each citizen; and those who had adhered to their Covenants were still entitled to all the benefit of the Compact.

903. This view of the Constitution of each Country, as a Compact among the citizens, by no means tends to diminish the reverence and affection towards it, which we have stated to be one of the Duties of a citizen (329). Even a common Contract is, to a moral man, an object of most careful fidelity and respect; and to a religious man, an object of religious reverence; it is sacred. But the Social Contract is not a common Contract. It is a Fundamental Contract, by which all the Rights of men are defined and secured, all the most important and dearest social relations protected. It is a Contract with the whole body of our Community, dictated by the universal voice, devised or assented to by all the wisest and best of our Countrymen. Whether it be the result of the wisdom of man, or of the wisdom of ages, that is, of the good guidance of Providence, it has made our Country, and all that we value in it, what they are. Whatever were its origin therefore, the Constitution of our Country is a worthy object of our fidelity, reverence, and

affection.

904. This also is recognized in the States of North America. Thus the Constitution of Rhode Island says: "In the words of the Father of his Country (Washington), we declare that the basis of our political Systems is the Right of the People to make and alter their Constitutions of Government : but that the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all." And in accordance with this feeling, the Members of the General Legislatures, and of the respective State

Legislatures, and all Executive and Judicial Officers, swear to support the Constitution of the United States, and also the Constitution of their respective States. With what reverence and love the Consti. tution of England has been looked upon by Englishmen, in general, it is not necessary to say..

905. Thus, the description of the Constitution of the Country as its Social Contract, serves to express the Doctrine that all Members of the State have mutual obligations which they may incur heavy penalties by violating. It expresses this in such a manner as to conciliate the good-will and assent, both of the Lovers of Order and of the Lovers of Freedom; and without any tendency to diminish the reverence and affection with which the Constitution is regarded.

Before we quit this subject, it may be proper to notice some of the objections which are sometimes urged against the Doctrine of the Social Contract.

CHAPTER VI.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

906. It is proper to consider the arguments which Paley has urged against the Doctrine of the Social Contract in his Moral and Political Philosophy, both on account of the currency and authority which that work possesses; and also, in order that we may thereby further explain the effect of the Doctrine: and may compare it with the Doctrine which he propounds as fit to supersede it, namely, the Doctrine that the foundation of Government, and of the Duty of Obedience to it, is Expediency.

907. Paley's principal arguments against the