Natural rights and equality; the case of injustice in the Senate

Adrian Acosta, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

This thesis seeks to demonstrate that the Senate, as it is composed, goes against America's basic ideas of equality. First it examines the foundation of America's ideas of justice and natural rights. This is done by examining both Hobbes and Locke and how they helped influence America's ideals and, more specifically, how equality became a natural right. After that, it takes on whether or not these ideas are still valid to this very day. The thesis proceeds by examining the documents that helped form America and the system of government that got instituted after the second constitutional convention. Subsequently, it goes over the reasons why the Senate goes against the fundamental principles of the country. Contemporary court cases will then help shed light on how the Senate is viewed in the court system and how it is applied throughout the country. Finally, the thesis concludes that even though the Senate does go against America's ideas of justice but it was a necessary injustice for the vast majority of the country that had to be dealt with in order to have one nation. So in essence, even though the Senate is an unjust institution in our government, not having it the way that it is composed would have led to a greater injustice of not having a strong successful nation.

Subject Area

American history|Philosophy|Political science

Recommended Citation

Acosta, Adrian, "Natural rights and equality; the case of injustice in the Senate" (2012). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1512538.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1512538

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