HIST 383 Lecture : Patriarchy, the Social Order
Document Summary
1776 declaration of independence in usa: right of the people to abolish a government if the government is not up to snuff. Not the same thing in britain: men, women, and children only experienced the structure inequality. King at the top; peers deferred to king; women to husbands, servants to masters, gen- try to the aristocracy. Duty to follow their place in social order. It was not supposed to be tyrannical: ideal of the social order was the the patrons or superiors would take care of those in their care. King acts as father of country; take care of everyone in his country. Government of the kingdom or household was not the product of the informed consent of the people. Renaissance notion of a great chain of being. The conscious abolition of such a social order and renounce authority; this was incom- prehensible.
