history, and inferences from the nature of the human
family. He claimed that God granted authority to Adam
and his descendants, so patriarchal rule was evident
throughout Hebrew, Greek, Roman, and European civi-
lizations. DEMOCRATIC EQUALITYviolated this natural and
divine order and would lead to chaos and anarchy.
Filmer attacked a wide rage of MODERN thinkers,
including Locke, HOBBES, MILTON, and GROTIUS. Taking
an extreme view of the ruler’s absolute SOVEREIGNTY,
Filmer claimed that absolute obedience to the state was
just and that any resistance or even criticism of the
king was contrary to God’s will. This went far beyond
the traditional CHRISTIANview of civil obedience (as
expressed by St. AUGUSTINEand St. Thomas AQUINAS).
By using a family model of the polity, Filmer imposed
patriarchal authority on all “subjects as children.” The
Calvinist system of CHECKS AND BALANCES, dividing
power, was unworkable to Filmer. Even the church
could not serve as a balance on secular political power.
Sir Robert Filmer lived as a typical MEDIEVALEng-
lish gentleman. He attended Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, was knighted by King James I in 1618, married
an heiress of the bishop of Ely, and spent his life on an
estate in Kent. He associated with prominent clergy,
antiquarians, and political and literary figures. His
chief work was the book Patriarchapublished posthu-
mously in 1680.
Filmer expressed his royal absolutist ideas just as
British monarchy and patriarchy were coming to an
end. In 1688, the Glorious Revolution established par-
liamentary supremacy in Great Britain. Except for
occasional nostalgic remembrances and a few limited
revivals (as among such slave-owning U.S. southerners
as George FITZHUGH), Filmer’s ideals of patriarchal gov-
ernment went out of fashion by the late 17th century.
Further Readings
Daly, J. Sir Robert Filmer and English Political Thought.Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1979.
Filmer, Robert, Sir. Patriarcha and other writings, Johann P.
Sommerville, ed. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University
Press, 1991.
———. Patriarcha and Other Political Works,P. Laslett, ed. and
intro. Oxford, Eng.: Basil Blackwell, 1949.
Laslett, P. Sir Robert Filmer: The Man Versus the Whig Myth.
1948.
Locke, J. Two Treatises of Government (1689),P. Laslett, ed. and
intro. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1965,
1970.
Schochet, G. J. Patriarchalism in Political Thought.New York:
Basic Books, 1975.
———. “Sir Robert Filmer: some new bibliographic discover-
ies.” In The Library,5th ser., 26 (1971).
Sidney, A. Discourses Concerning Government,(1968; written ca.
1682), J. Robertson, ed. 1772.First Amendment
In the U.S. CONSTITUTION, the first provision added to
the founding political document guaranteed FREEDOM
of religion, speech, press, and assembly. This amend-
ment was added in 1789, almost immediately after the
ratification of the original Constitution (and was a
condition for several states ratifying the U.S. Constitu-
tion), to allay fears that the new national government
might violate individual RIGHTS to LIBERTY of con-
science, thought, expression, and popular assembly.
The amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redness of grievances.” These First Amendment
rights (sometimes called CIVIL RIGHTS) became the basis
for a whole body of constitutional law, in which, for
more than 200 years, the U.S. Supreme Court applied
these principles to practical matters of religious liberty,
freedom of speech and press, and popular assembly.
U.S. constitutional law interpretation is largely over
this First Amendment.Further Reading
Sheffer, Martin S. God Versus Caesar: Belief, Worship and Prosely-
tizing under the First Amendment.Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1999.Fitzhugh, George (1806–1881) U.S. political
theorist and proslavery advocateBorn into a southern plantation family (in Virginia),
George Fitzhugh became a leading proslavery writer
before the American Civil War. Combining English
Tory CONSERVATISMwith an almost MARXISTcritique of
northern CAPITALIST society, Fitzhugh is unique in
U.S. political thought. He attacked all MODERNpoliti-
cal thought (including that of John LOCKE and
Thomas JEFFERSON) for its INDIVIDUALISM, LIBERTY, and
SOCIAL-CONTRACTperspectives. From a MEDIEVALpatri-
archal view of society as made up of organic depend-
encies and HIERARCHICAL personal relationships,
Fitzhugh defended black slavery as natural (and ben-
eficial for African Americans) and feared that DEMO-108 First Amendment