Through out the United States history there have been many innovators, philosophers, and trailblazers that have shaped the way America has come to be. One of the main factors in the formation of America has to be credited to the founding of the American Political thought derived from the minds of this nation's founding fathers. It was their ideas that influenced and shaped the thoughts on political matters emanated from European political philosophers. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were British Political thinkers who had the greatest affect on the American political philosophy. Through the dialect of these philosophers, a recurring theme of "natural rights" teaching was conveyed. It was later to become know as classical political science. It was by these documents that the nation was founded, and the constitution was formed. So as America wanted to break away from the British rule, documents such as the Federalist essays were used to convince the people that sovereignty was necessary to break away from a monarchy rule in order to gain a liberal regime.

The "natural rights" teaching point out that there was only one legitimate form of government and one that originated from the

As for the Federalist essay No.51 we are concerned with the understanding of how the structure of the proposed government makes liberty possible. Each branch should be, for the most part, in Madison's opinion, independent. To assure such independence, no one branch should have too much power in selecting members of the other two branches. Madison furthers, the members of each branch should not be too dependent on the members of the other two branches in the determination of their salaries. Dividing power helps to check its growth in any one direction, but power cannot be divided absolutely equally. In a representative democracy it is not only important to guard against the oppression of rulers, it is equally important to guard against the injustice which may be inflicted by certain citizens or groups. Justice therefore is the purpose of government and civil society. If government allows or encourages strong groups to combine together against the weak, liberty will be lost and anarchy will result. And the condition of anarchy tempts even strong individuals and groups to submit to any form of government, no matter how bad, which they hope will protect them as well as the weak.

sovereignty of the people. Fundamental principals were set, and philosophers referred to "natural rights" in three distinctive ways: preservation (life), freedom (liberty), and equality (pursuit of happiness). Since "natural rights" were God given, philosophers stressed to the people that no one especially government, could deny an individual these rights. Many of these arguments in which "natural rights" are stressed about are visible in the documents, constitutions, and writings of American political philosophers such as John Wise, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine.

John Wise (1652-1725), who wrote "Democracy Is Founded in Scripture," argued explicitly for a democratic mode of church governance. His arguments were based on biblical sources, the principle of natural rights, and reason. Defending the status quo of congregational churches, Wise used democracy as a foundation at the time when religion and politics were closely interwoven. He reasoned that, "...when men (being originally in a condition of natural freedom and equality) had thoughts of joining a civil body..." (Dolbeare, p.26). What Wise is trying to state here was that in the Law of Nature we are all free and equal. However, once we join a government we are secured of those rights. He uses Locke's fundamental principles of natural freedom and equality as a state of being, arguing one must partake in a state of democracy in order to have these rights secured. Wise states in his closing argument, "And it is as plain as daylight, there is no species of government like a democracy to attain this end" (Dolbeare, p.31).

Thomas Paine (1737-1809), who wrote "Common Sense, The American Crisis I, The American Crisis XIII, and Rights of Man -Part I," writes about the whole idea of different governments. Rather then look to "musty documents" which claim to "grant" them, Paine writes that rights by their nature cannot be granted, because if they can b

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