THOMAS MORE ON

REPUBLICANISM AND
THE FAMILY AS THE
BASIC UNIT OF
SOCIETY

English
Chancellor
of King
Henry VIII.

Patron Saint
of Lawyers
English lawyer,
humanist,
philosopher,
scholar,
statesman and
writer of the
Renaissance
period.

He believed in
Humanism and
Republicanism.

Famously
described
by Robert
Whittington as
"a man for all
seasons.

Sir Thomas More

(AKA St. Thomas More)
(1478 - 1535)

He believed in the
sanctity of
marriage and the
importance of
family; that the
family is the
Basic Unit of
Society.

Humanism
A broad category of ethical,
metaphysical, epistemological and
political philosophies in which
human interests, values, and dignity
predominate. It has an ultimate
faith in humankind.

Republicanism
Republican Form of Government
Citizens of a country have an active
role in the affairs of the government.
The strength of the republican
government relies on the people
involved.

The advantage of a Republican form

of government:
Precisely because man is corruptible, it
will be too risky to put all sovereignty
into one mans power in perpetuity.
The Sovereign must be elected by the
people so that the electorate can check
and terminate their rulers regime for
abuses.

A Treatise on the Passion

Because of the human
tendency to err, human beings
have a special need for
government.

The first government in the natural

society is the FAMILY.

It is in the family where we learn

the virtues to be exercised in a
larger civil society.

In his work Utopia,

A large family is the basic unit of the
society. The young children help in the
housework, while the elderly educate the
children. The whole island of Utopia itself is
run like a single family.
Because of the importance of the family,
there are strict regulations to prepare men and
women to marriage and sexual fidelity.

 More argued that a good ruler would be like

a father to his children, rather than a master to
his subjects.

In his work, Epigram 121,

More wrote that any man who has command
of many men owes his authority to those
whom he commands: he ought to have
command not one instant longer than his
subjects wish.

The Rule of Law

In Richard III, More wrote that unlimited
power has a tendency to weaken good minds,
even in the case of gifted men.
To correct even an absolutist government,
there must be the rule of law.
Law is a criterion of justice and the
substantial shield of freedom.

UNLOCKING THE
INALIENABLE
RIGHTS

The law is the organization of the natural right of

lawful defense. It is the substitution of a common force
for individual forces. And this common force is to do
only what the individual forces have a natural and
lawful right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and
properties; to maintain the right of each, and to cause
justice to reign over us all.
Frederic Bastiat, The Law

 Locke said that in the beginning, people lived in a

state of peace, goodwill, mutual assistance, and
preservation, and enjoyed natural rights to protect
their own life, limb, and property.

Man is by nature social and the social contract

was made to further the common welfare,
especially for others who may not be able to defend
themselves. Thus, a civil government must be
created not because the natural state is a state of
war, but for greater convenience.

Civil Rights the rights that would not

otherwise exist without the promulgation of
laws brought about by the social contract.
Civil rights should protect and supplement
natural rights through written laws.

The Peoples Trust

Social Contract is a pact between free men
for the public good.
Laws hold must therefore be limited to public
affairs, and beyond this, people should be free
to be themselves.

Balance of Power tripartite system

legislative, executive and judiciary.

Doctrine of non-delegation Sovereign power cannot be transferred

to those whom the people did not
entrust this power.

ROUSING MAN TO BE FREE

Presumption of Innocence
Rousseau conceived man to be originally
good and free in his idea of the noble savage. That
puts the burden on society to prove the guilt of an
accused.
In his work The Social Contract, Rousseau said that
man was born free but everywhere he is in chains.
He believed that civilization can corrupt a person
and destroy his spontaneity, and creative energy.

 Each individual is considered part of the whole

society, the collective body. It is a moral body where
citizens share in the sovereign power.
The social contract is there to enhance mans
freedom.
Freedom is the opportunity to do what is right,
including obedience to authority as assented by
ones citizenship or membership to a society.