1 Historical Concepts of Social Justice

Many societies today have established what they believe to be an equitable distribution of opportunities, wealth, control, power, and privilege—but how did these approaches come about? Historical context provides an important framework for current social justice concepts. This chapter reviews historical attempts to define social justice, from Hammurabi of Babylon to the Founding Fathers of the United States, and lays the foundation for ongoing development and discussion of contemporary and current social justice topics. This chapter is not exhaustive of all historical social justice concepts, as this is not the primary focus of this text. However, some understanding of the history which leads to current day social justice constructs is necessary.

Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi was created by Hammurabi, the King of Babylon, in the Middle East, around 1790 BCE. It is recognized as one of the first legal codes, predating other well known written codes, such as the Jewish Ten Commandments (around 1000 BCE), the Hindu Vedas (around 800 BCE), and the writings of the philosopher Confucius (around 500 BCE) (Finucane, 2017). Not only was it the first of its kind, but also unique to later codes in that it was a formally written legal code enforced by the government. This may reflect an expectation from lawmakers in this period (1790 BCE) for people to treat their fellow community members with respect and dignity.

The prelude to the Code of Hammurabi includes the justifications and purpose for creating the code. It begins with Hammurabi explaining his royal status and undeniable authority. He explains: one of their gods has given him the right to protect the people of Babylon, and he is doing this righteously by creating a set of laws that everyone must live by. These laws encompass family laws, tax laws, and contractual laws, and include punishment by death and/or mutilation (Pyrcz, 2019). One of the most well-known tenets of the Code of Hammurabi is “an eye for an eye”; essentially, “whatever I did to you, you should be able to do to me.” However, the implementation was not always equal. This may be one of the earliest forms of documented discrimination. If a free man were to punch a slave in the face, the free man might be fined, as the individuals during this time considered a slave’s life to be worth less than the life of the free man. However, if a slave were to punch a free man in the face, the slave could lose their hand altogether (Pyrcz, 2019). This injustice reflects societal attempts, even in some of the earliest recorded human history, to balance individual human value with a community of social justice.

That the Code of Hammurabi was developed and written in stone acted as a form of societal control. These laws were written physically and irreversibly to show community members that they would not waver, regardless of who committed the crime. Inscribed on a black stone pillar, the laws included the belief that if someone was accused of a crime, they were presumed innocent. On the other hand, the Code of Hammurabi also treated individual lives as having varying levels of worth. For example, a pregnant slave was only considered to have a third of the value held by a free man’s eyeball (Pyrcz, 2019).

The Golden Rule

The next historical group of ideas that can be connected to early social justice concepts are found in religious books and religious followings. These include what is commonly referred to as the Golden Rule in the Abrahamic faiths (Finucane, 2017). This Golden Rule, in its more basic form, means to treat others as you would want to be treated. The Golden Rule in the Christian holy book, the Bible, is found in the book of Matthew, as a part of the Sermon on the Mount. It states: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Matthew, 7:12). This is often translated into the concept: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. The Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, states a similar idea: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Finucane, 2017).

The essence of the Golden Rule is seen throughout history in various religious contexts. These variations of a Golden Rule helped to guide the reciprocal nature of interaction between individuals by focusing on what to do, instead of what not to do. It is important to note, however, that the Golden Rule can be very subjective. As the “rule” is open to interpretation, it may be manipulated for ill intention. The Golden Rule works due to social consequence; it provides a socially acceptable outcome if an individual engages in a certain behavior or action. With the Golden Rule heavily influencing many social norms and laws throughout history, its subjectivity is essential to recognise. Does the Golden Rule, for example, allow society members to do good to others because they themselves believe it to be good, even though the other parties may not (Green, 2008)?

Magna Carta

The Magna Carta is a document that was written by King John of England in 1215. It defined who held power over the English people. At the time, the English people argued over the King’s extreme level and misuse of authority. This document contains basic principles of human rights and stated that even the King was not above the law (Turner, 2014). With the monarchy having been previously seen as all-powerful and unchallengeable, this represented a large shift in power.

At the time, the Magna Carta was seen as a solution to all of England’s political problems. It contained laws ensuring personal freedom, and supported the idea of equity under the law. The Magna Carta contained rules which have been interpreted and used as a foundation for the development of laws throughout history. This includes rules regarding the freedom of individuals, particularly around imprisonment. The Magna Carta significantly influenced the systems of justice now seen in the United States. Concepts of a fair and impartial judge and a jury of one’s peers can be traced back to this historical document. Eventually, the Magna Carta was brought to the United States by English settlers who felt they were the king’s free subjects as they settled into the New World (Turner, 2014).

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. It declared the separation of the thirteen North American colonies from England following the American Revolution between 1775 and 1776, creating the United States of America (Britannica, 2022).  The Declaration of Independence included principles such as that “all men are created equal,” and that all men have “inalienable rights…of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” It is important to note that this doctrine was initially designed to be applied only to certain men; it did not include people who were enslaved, or women. The Declaration of Independence has been the foundation of many of the social justice arguments throughout American history.

The theological context behind the Declaration of Independence was the notion that God had instilled all people with basic human rights, and that no one person in power has the right to revoke power from others (Britannica, 2022). The Declaration of Independence states that the people will choose who holds power, and that those given power cannot give it to someone else (Jayne, 1998). This concept stems from the mentality that since God is the creator of all things, only He has the power to instill this type of power (Beck, 2016).

The Declaration of Independence also valued, what they considered to be, basic moral judgement, relying on the idea that the government and those chosen to run it would be morally judged by its citizens. This places the responsibility of choosing a morally sound government in the hands of the people, including the decision of how to define morality (Jayne, 1998). It cannot be forgotten that during this time, the same people who were writing the Declaration of Independence owned slaves, and considered this morally right (Sandefur, 2018). It is important to remember the subjectivity of moral values.

The Constitution

The United States Constitution was written in 1787 and has been in operation since 1789. The Constitution was written to connect the United States by a common thread of laws and interests (National Archives, 2022). By promoting a general sense of welfare and unity, the United States Constitution organized the government branches and explained the responsibilities of each. It outlined the powers that each branch held and how they were expected to practice and work together as a cohesive entity (National Constitution Center, 2023).

Bill of Rights 1791

The Bill of Rights are amendments written in 1791 to address objections to the Constitution. These amendments were intentionally written to guarantee United States citizens freedoms and rights. The federalists, including James Madison, studied the United States Constitution and identified several important issues which they felt had been overlooked in the initial Constitution. The Federalist Party designed 12 amendments and sent them to Congress for ‘ratification’: the process to formally change the United States Constitution. For an amendment to be ratified, it must be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote and then by three-fourths of the states. Another way an amendment can be ratified is through the legislatures in two-thirds of the states being in agreement to move in this direction. Congress ended up ratifying points three through 12, which became the first 10 amendments of the United States Constitution, titled the Bill of Rights (National Archives, 2016).

The Bill of Rights evolved as a response to the treatment of the English monarchy towards the colonists before the American Revolution. The newly formed United States government wanted to clearly outline the rights that the new government could not infringe upon. They wanted to give the new government a vital role in protecting citizens from abusive governments (Amar, 1998). Examples of these rights include the right to freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and the right to not allow the government or soldiers to requisition their homes. The latter is a practical example of a pervasive issue during the period, as the British soldiers had the right to go into any home and take it for their own use during the Revolutionary War. Similarly, each of these ten amendments is connected to, and derived from, an intentional process of regulating government overreach in an effort to prevent future treatment of citizens like that of the colonists by the English monarchy.

Today, there are 27 amendments to the United States Constitution (National Archives, 2016). That means that 17 amendments have been added since the Bill of Rights was created. Thus, the United States government is founded on the idea that the people have the power to adjust and add to the Constitution as society changes. Eighteenth century politicians saw the need for citizens to be able to evolve their government, and this is the process they established to facilitate this (National Archives, 2016).

References

Amar, A. R. (1998). The Bill of Rights creation and reconstruction. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300127089

Beck, R. (2016). [Review of the book The Declaration of Independence and God: Self-evident truths in American law, by O. Anderson]. Journal of Church and State, 58(4), 779–781. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csw093

Bramley, C., & Morrison, K. (2023). Student engagement, higher education, and social justice: Beyond neoliberalism and the market. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003331292

Britannica. (2022, December 3). Declaration of Independence. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Declaration+of+Independence

Finucane, B. (2017). Human rights. Mason Crest.

Green, W. S. (2008). Parsing reciprocity: Questions for the golden rule. In J. Neusner & B. Chilton (Eds.), The golden rule: The ethics of reciprocity in world religions (pp. 1-8). Continuum. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472549440

Jayne, A. (1998). Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence: Origins, philosophy, and theology. The University Press of Kentucky.

King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769).

National Archives. (2016). Amending America: Records from the National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/files/amending-america/explore/aa-the-ebook-med-res.pdf

National Archives. (2022). The Constitution of the United States. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution

National Constitution Center. (2023). The United States Constitution. https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution

Pyrcz, A. A. (2019). Set in stone: The ancient Babylonian law code of King Hammurabi. Agora, 54(1), 11–18.

Sandefur, T. (2018). The Declaration of Independence is the moral and legal foundation of America. The Objective Standard, 13(3), 107–110.

Turner, R. V. (2014). Magna Carta: Through the ages. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315837468