Wow. I am learning so much! Last night I had a long argument/discussion at dinner with one of the professors about his class on Locke, Hume and the American Founding. I debated how relatively important Locke was to the American Revolution after all. All of the Freedom's Foundations class from PHC came flooding back. The tradition leading down from Augustine -> Aquinas -> Calvin and Luther, of course, spoke against revolution. That Protestant tradition mixed in with the thread that stretched in English Common Law from Alfred's Dooms -> Magna Carta -> Cromwell -> Blackstone, that there is a law that is higher than even rulers, which they must obey. The third strand was natural law/organic theory of the state, which came through people like Hobbes, Rousseau, and then Locke. Locke, of course, espoused a somewhat Christianized version of social contract theory, which is why some of the Founders referred to him. Scholars now want to say Locke was very influential, more so than the rest, because he said it was all right for people to break their "social contract" with their rulers if the latter were unjust.

The question is, how did the Americans decide it was all right to rebel? And the answer is, did they? If they were operating on the Common Law tradition, which seems likely when you read documents such as the Mayflower Compact, they considered law to be higher than George III. If he was breaking common law, and, further, trying to harm Americans by housing British in their homes and ignoring their peaceful letters, should they not force him to conform to that law? Can that be called a rebellion? It is more a long-standing tradition, one both Locke and the Founders shared. They would not have to look to Locke at all for that.

On the other hand, it is irrefutable fact that preachers began more and more to refer to "contracts," and even to Locke specifically, in the decade just before the Revolution. The voices that were heard in the first stages of asking England for redress were much more moderate. As time continued, voices became more strident. They asked for the king to pay attention to their "rights." It is probably true that many different people came together for the American Revolution for quite opposing reasons. And it is fascinating to study. I have been able to look at it to the middle layer of intensity, but now I feel the itch to plumb the matter to its depths and find out who exactly said and believed what.

And that is just one of the conversations we've had. I am glutted with new things to read and learn. ;) You know, if this is what graduate school will be like, I think I could quite enjoy it.  ¶ 12:28 PM