Jean Domat's Social Order And Absolute Monarchy

HIST 3005 Contreras 1
Luis Contreras
Sophie Tunney
12/3/2018
The Needs of the people When a form of governing a state becomes obsolete it is sometimes best to do away with that form of governance and install a new form of government. In our “Shaping Of The Modern World” textbook we can find the source “Common sense” by Thomas Paine explaining how ineffective England’s rule over the colonies is, and we can also find “Social Order And Absolute Monarchy” by Jean Domat which argues in favor of absolute rule by the monarchy. Domat’s idea of absolute monarchy is flawed however because when a monarchy is in power it limits the growth of the state, stomp on the natural rights of its citizen’s, their decisions will affect their people

In Domat’s “Social Order And Absolute Monarchy” the argument is that monarchs should stay in power and that is their divine right to rule that would keep society together, monarchs are natural and necessary form of government that society should follow. Jean is of the mindset that monarchies are one of the most effective and natural forms of government, however he mistaken to believe this. “The first distinction that subjects people to others is the one created by birth between parents and children. And this distinction leads to a first kind of government in families, where children owe obedience to their parents who head the family. The second distinction among persons arises from the diversity of employment required by society” (Domat 28). What Jean means with this is that one natural form of government that is like a monarchy is one that we are born into whether we like it or not is families where comparisons are drawn between the children being the subjects and the parents being the monarch and that children owe their parents obedience. The other distinction is between employer and employee which is self explanatory the employer is the monarch and the employee is obedient to the employer. Domat is drawing comparisons between regular everyday relationships to that of subject to king but what he fails to take

In Conclusion Thomas Paine was able to prove that monarchies weren’t the correct form of government for the Europe and much less the American colonies. He demonstrates how monarchs can have a severe impact on many people both directly and indirectly. Paine also manages to establish a precedent in which society was able to prosper and be at peace before monarchs took over. Domat’s belief in absolute monarchies is flawed because even though it similar to other natural relationships the one between monarch and subject is just one in which the monarch holds all the power and and can abuse of that