Give a brief description of the essential elements of social contract theory as found in the Declaration of Independence

Paper 1
POLS 1101
American Government
Savannah State University

In 3 typed, double-spaced pages, please respond to the following topic in a logically coherent, well-argued manner. Spelling, grammar, and logic will all be assessed in this paper, so please proof-read your paper and make sure the argument makes sense. Also, it is important that you draw upon the articles from the syllabus to help you make your argument, quoting and citing when appropriate. If you don’t quote and cite the articles, you are telling me that you didn’t bother to read the articles. So, use the articles to help make your case. Further, if you use the articles but don’t quote and cite, that is called plagiarism. Remember the rule: if you use someone else’s words, you must quote and cite. If you plagiarize, the professor reserves the right to fail you for the assignment and potentially to report your plagiarism to the appropriate administrative authorities. Don’t plagiarize. Even Further: Don’t do patch-writing. Patch-writing is when you copy and paste someone else’s words (a sentence or paragraph) and then change words here and there to make it look original. PATCH-WRITING IS PLAGIARISM. Please don’t do it. Please know that I only grade the last file that you submit to the dropbox, and that you can submit to the D2L dropbox as many times as you need to. Every time that you submit, Turnitin.com will general a report that you can look at that will determine what unoriginal material is in your paper. Just because material is unoriginal does NOT mean it is plagiarism. If you have quoted and cited the unoriginal material, then you are fine. If you have not quoted and cited the unoriginal material, it may be plagiarism. If you have questions about anything in your paper, please ask me.

Give a brief description of the essential elements of social contract theory as found in the Declaration of Independence. Next, provide an assessment of the value of the theory for thinking about the legitimacy of power in the United States. Use examples from contemporary society to show the strengths or weaknesses of the central components of social contract theory. In what way does social contract theory adequately describe the nature and origin of political power? In what way does it fail to adequately describe the nature and origin of political power? Do we need to rethink the justification for political power?