covenant with them in Hebron before
the Lord; and they anointed David King over Israel." As a philosophical
speculation to explain why people were governed or consented to be
governed, this theory went back at least to the Greeks, and doubtless
much earlier; and, though of some significance in medieval thought, it
became of greater importance in British political philosophy, especially
through the works of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. A very practical
application of the compact theory was made in the English Revolution of
1688, when in order to avoid the embarrassment of deposing the king, the
convention of the Parliament adopted the resolution: "That King James
the Second, having endeavored to subvert the Constitution of the
Kingdom, by breaking the original Contract between King and People, and
having, by the advice of Jesuits, and other wicked persons, violated
the fundamental Laws, and withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom, has
abdicated the Government, and that the throne is hereby vacant."
These theories were developed by Jean Jacques Rousseau in his "Contrat
Social"--a book so attractively written that it eclipsed all other works
upon the subject and resulted in his being regarded as the author of the
doctrine--and through him they spread all over Europe.

Conditions in America did more than lend color to pale speculation; they
seemed to take this hypothesis out of the realm of theory and to give it
practical application. What happened when men went into the wilderness
to live? The Pilgrim Fathers on board the Mayflower entered into an
agreement which was signed by the heads of families who took part in the
enterprise: "We, whose names are underwritten... Do by these presents,
solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant
and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick."

Other colonies, especially in New England, with this example before
them of a social contract entered into similar compacts or "plantation
covenants," as they were called. But the colonists were also accustomed
to having written charters granted which continued for a time at least
to mark the extent of governmental powers. Through this intermingling
of theory and practice it was the most natural thing in the world, when
Americans came to form their new State Governments, that they should
provide written instruments framed by their own representatives,
which not only bound them to be governed in this way but