He adopts the theory of a state of nature in which men lived,
antecedently to their forming themselves into civil society,
without government or law. All men in that state were equal, and
each was independent and sovereign proprietor of himself. These
equal, independent, sovereign individuals met, or are held to
have met, in convention, and entered into a compact with
themselves, each with all, and all with each, that they would
constitute government, and would each submit to the determination
and authority of the whole, practically of the fluctuating and
irresponsible majority. Civil society, the state, the
government, originates in this compact, and the government, as
Mr. Jefferson asserts in the Declaration of American
Independence, "derives its just powers from the consent of the
governed."
This theory, as so set forth, or as modified by asserting that
the individual delegates instead of surrendering his rights to
civil society, was generally adopted by the American people in
the last century, and is still the more prevalent theory with
those among them who happen to have any theory or opinion on the
subject. It is the political tradition of the country. The
state, as defined by the elder Adams, is held to be a voluntary
association of individuals. Individuals create civil society,
and may uncreate it whenever they judge it advisable.
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