According to John Locke’s theory of the social contract, a group of citizens have the obligation to themselves and their fellow man to abolish a government not protecting the basic Law of Nature. This law of nature being that each and every man must have the unalienable rights to their life, liberty, and their personal property. Any government that would be going against this natural law is to be considered an unfit and uncivilised government. Therefore, the people governed by this uncivilised state have the right to rebel.
The most simple way to describe the Law of Nature is that a government must work for the protection of the governed. King George’s refusal to meet the needs of the colonists was a blatant show of disregard for Locke’s social contract. “He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” (preamble) As a result of King George’s actions, the colonists felt very strongly that their most basic of human needs were not being accommodated by England and the throne.
King George again pushed past the basic ideas of Locke’s contract when he sent his own personal government regulators to live within the societies of the colonists. “He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” (List of Grievances) He went from disregarding their needs for existence, to inserting himself into the very foundation of their lives. The King continued to give his people in the colonies no support in the form of laws and regulations, yet sent people to take what little solaces they had.
When a head of government takes power, they vow to protect the citizens of the country in which they hold power, with the exception of a dictatorship or a tyrant. In the instance of King George, he swore to do this exact thing, yet failed when it came to the lives of the colonists. “He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection.” (List of Grievances) By declaring the colonists out of his protection, by the basic ideas of Locke’s social contract, he must also declare them out of his rule, yet he continues to rule as if nothing has changed, other than his newly acclaimed hostile attitude towards the colonists. “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of the people.” (List of Grievances) Not only did The King declare that he could not aid the colonists in defense against threats from the French, Spanish, and native peoples, he added himself into the list of threats the colonists faced.
George sealed his fate by sending in his armies. Not only government regulators, but fully armed soldiers to live amongst the colonists. “He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the head of a civilized union.” (Resolution of Independence) His actions had come to resemble the acts of a leader of an uncivilized and bloodlusted country. Not a country that was to be recalled as a global power, reaching the farthest ends of the seas.
George’s behavior was unacceptable, and he failed the protections and the lives of the people who lived under him. He was there to protect them, not kill them. He blatantly broke Locke’s social contract, the likes of which the colonists had admired a great deal, and went beyond bounds that could even be considered civilised. His behavior was unfit for a ruler, and certainly inadequate for the colonists.
