The Social Contract and the 19th Amendment: An Exploration of Governmental. Legitimacy

Transcription

1 Constitution Day Essay Contest Wednesday, September 13, 2017 The Social Contract and the 19th Amendment: An Exploration of Governmental Legitimacy Social Contract theory holds that men in the state of nature will come together and consent to give up absolute freedom in exchange for the protections that a government can provide against the dangers of the state of nature. Thomas Hobbes, in 1651, proposed that this government could only be justified if the focus was on the wellbeing of the governed. Hobbes proposed that liberty is only exchanged for security, and if security is not provided to the citizens, the legitimacy of the exchange is lost. 1 John Locke proposed a similar contract in 1690, but proposed that instead of protection of the individual, citizens will only consent to the contract if there are property protections. 2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau s conception of the Social Contract proposed in 1762, stated that man is somewhat underdeveloped in the state of nature, however if men were to agree to give up absolute liberty in exchange for protection, then men could become fully developed. 3 While each of these thinkers proposed contracts that differed in many ways, the common theme within all three conceptions of the Social Contract is that citizens consent to be governed, and the consent is what makes the government legitimate. As Thomas Jefferson once said, The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect 1 Dorbolo, Jon. Great Philosophers: Thomas Hobbes: social contract, Oregon State University, 2002, oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/philosophers/hobbes/hobbes_social_contract.html. Accessed 5 Sept Green, Michael. Locke's Social Contract. Philosophy 33, Pomona College, 29 Sept. 2016, carneades.pomona.edu/2016f-political/10.lockehumeconsent.html. Accessed 5 Sept Whitcomb, Merrick. Rousseau's The Social Contract. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution, University of Pennsylvania History Department, 1899, chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/275/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017

2 its free expression should be our first object. Without full representation of the citizens, a government cannot be legitimate and is doomed to fail in fulfilling its duties.this leads to the assertion that the 19th amendment is the most important of all 27 amendments to the Constitution, because it attempted to give women the right to vote. Attempting to grant women the right to vote was the most significant action taken by the United States Government in the 20th century because it showed a newfound commitment to upholding the will of the people and the consent of the governed. While the argument can be made that the 19th amendment was significant because it equalized the genders, that argument falls flat simply because it didn t equalize the genders. The 19th amendment did not solve for the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling, nor did it guarantee paid maternity leave for expecting mothers. Further than this, the 19th really only provided the right to vote for white women or women of wealth. Most women of color and women of poor backgrounds still were unable to exercise their right to vote for many years. The amendment also operates under the assumption that there are two static genders (an issue that is still being explored today). Despite how progressive the amendment was for its time, it didn t achieve what it set out to do. Full representation of United States citizens still hasn t been accomplished, however its progressive stance is not what made the 19th amendment great. Outside of what it did for women (which was not a small feat), what the amendment showed about the government s commitment to retaining legitimacy is what made it great. Returning to look at the Social Contract, governmental legitimacy necessitates consent of the governed, and without the 19th amendment the United States government would not have made a crucial step toward developing a successful, and legitimate electoral system.

3 What makes the 19th amendment even more significant is the fact that despite the slow progress made by suffragettes leading up to ratification of the amendment, the ratification has gone mostly uncontested. The only contest of the amendment after ratification came from 4 Maryland judge, Oscar Leser, in Leser sued to have the names of two women who had registered to vote taken off of the voting register because Maryland had opposed the ratification of the amendment. The Supreme Court ruled against Leser citing that the questions he proposed regarding the powers of ratification, had actually been guaranteed by the constitution. In this way it was ensured that women could exercise the right to vote, as opposed to simply having the hypothetical right. After this case everyone in the United States had the right to vote, and hypothetically everyone could exercise that right (this was by no means a definitive rule, as voter suppression is still an issue today).this demonstrated the government s commitment to its citizens by giving a voice in politics to anyone who was expected to act in accordance with the laws passed by the government. This isn t to say that the 19th amendment was enough to solidify the legitimacy of the government. Even in modern times there are conflicts regarding consent of the governed. Voter suppression is still a major issue in 2017, which became apparent after the 2016 presidential 5 6 election, which was found by Alice Ollstein and Kira Lerner and the ACLU. We also see that voter apathy and voter disenfranchisement are still major issues within the electoral system. The 19th amendment wasn t a cure-all for all of the electoral system s ills, rather it was an essential 4 Rothman, Lilly. How a Little-Known Supreme Court Case Got Women the Right to Vote. Time.com, Time Magazine, 27 Feb. 2015, time.com/ /leser-v-garnett/. Accessed 5 Sept Ollstein, Alice Miranda, and Kira Lerner. Republicans were wildly successful at suppressing voters in ThinkProgress, 15 Nov. 2016, thinkprogress.org/2016-a-case-study-in-voter-suppression-258b5f90ddcd/. Accessed 5 Sept Ebenstein, Julie. We're Suing California Because It Threw Out More Than 45,000 Ballots in the 2016 Presidential Election Over Handwriting 'Mismatches'. American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, 24 Aug. 2017, Accessed 5 Sept. 2017

4 stepping stone on the path towards 100% voter participation, and it acts as a cornerstone as we begin to deal with modern flaws within the electoral system. The 19th amendment enforced the commitment of the United States to having full representation within the electoral system, which reminds us of the commitment of the government to retaining the legitimacy of the United States Government. As 28th president Woodrow Wilson put it, What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind. This is not a partisan issue, without prioritizing legitimacy through the consent of the governed the United States government would fail to be legitimate, which is what made the 19th amendment so important. It is only through the 19th amendment that we can actually prove a commitment to upholding the legitimacy of the government. Word Count: 976

5 Works Cited Dorbolo, Jon. Great Philosophers: Thomas Hobbes: social contract, Oregon State University, 2002,oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Hobbes/hobbes_social_contr act.html. Accessed 5 Sept Ebenstein, Julie. We're Suing California Because It Threw Out More Than 45,000 Ballots in the 2016 Presidential Election Over Handwriting 'Mismatches'. American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, 24 Aug. 2017, e-it-threw-out-more Accessed 5 Sept Editors. Social Contract. Accessed 5 Sept Gertner, Nancy, and Gail Heriot. The 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. National Constitution Center, constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xix. Accessed 5 Sept

6 Green, Michael. Locke's Social Contract. Philosophy 33, Pomona College, 29 Sept. 2016, carneades.pomona.edu/2016f-political/10.lockehumeconsent.html. Accessed 5 Sept Ollstein, Alice Miranda, and Kira Lerner. Republicans were wildly successful at suppressing voters in ThinkProgress, 15 Nov. 2016, thinkprogress.org/2016-a-case-study-in-voter-suppression-258b5f90ddcd/. Accessed 5 Sept Rothman, Lilly. How a Little-Known Supreme Court Case Got Women the Right to Vote. Time.com, Time Magazine, 27 Feb. 2015, time.com/ /leser-v-garnett/. Accessed 5 Sept Whitcomb, Merrick. Rousseau's The Social Contract. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution, University of Pennsylvania History Department, 1899, chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/275/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017