Democracy not a “child of the Reformation”
Modern democracy is often asserted to be the child of the Reformation. Nothing is farther from the truth. Robert Filmer, private theologian of James I of England, in his theory of Divine right, proclaimed, The king can do no wrong. The most sacred order of kings is of Divine right. John Neville Figgis, who seems little inclined to give Catholicism undue credit, makes the following assertions. Luther based royal authority upon Divine right with practically no reservation (Gerson to Grotius, p. 61). That to the Reformation was in some sort due the prevalence of the notion of the Divine Right of Kings is generally admitted. (Divine Right of Kings, p. 15). The Reformation had left upon the statute book an emphatic assertion of unfettered sovereignty vested in the king (ibid. p. 91). Luther denied any limitation of political power either by Pope or people, nor can it be said that he showed any sympathy for representative institutions; he upheld the inalienable and Divine authority of kings in order to hew down the Upas tree of Rome. There had been elaborated at this time a theory of unlimited jurisdiction of the crown and of non-resistance upon any pretense (Cambridge Modern History, Vol III, p. 739). Wycliffe would not allow that the king be subject to positive law (Divine Right of Kings, p. 69). Lord Acton wrote: Lutheran writers constantly condemn the democratic literature that arose in the second age of the Reformation....Calvin judged that the people were unfit to govern themselves, and declared the popular assembly an abuse (History of Freedom, p. 42).
A closer study of the Declaration of Independence discloses its dissimilarity with the social-contract or compact theories as explained with slight variations, by Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke, Puffendorf, Althusius, Grotius, Hooker, Kant, or Fichte. The American Declaration, like the political doctrine of Cardinal Bellarmine, declared political power as coming, in the first instance, from God, but as vested in a particular ruler by consent of the multitude or the people as a political body. The social-contract or compact theories sought the source of political power in an assumed social contract or compact by which individual rights contributed or yielded their individual rights to create a public right. Contracts of individuals can create individual rights only, not public or political rights. According to the American Declaration and Cardinal Bellarmine, government implies powers which never belonged to the individual and which, consequently, he could never have conferred upon society. The individual surrenders no authority. Sovereignty receives nothing from him. Government maintains its full dignity, it is of Divine origin, but vested in one or several individuals by popular consent.
The names of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and James Berg are often mentioned as possibly having influenced the spirit and contents of our American Declaration. The Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu, though read in America, did not present that theory of government which was sought by the Fathers of our Country. Rousseau’s writings were less widely known than Montesquieu’s. George Mason, not knowing French, in all probability never read the Contract social nor had Rousseau’s writings obtained currency in Virginia in 1776. The book of James Berg appeared in 1775, rather too late to have rendered service in May of 1776, even if it had discussed such general principles as are laid down in these two American Declarations.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/common-misconceptions/catholic-sources-and-the-declaration-of-independence.html
"He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty."
George Bancroft"John Calvin was the virtual founder of America."
Leopold von Ranke""Those who consider Calvin only as a theologian fail to recognize the breadth of his genius. The editing of our wise laws, in which he had a large share, does him as much credit as his Institutes. . . . [S]o long as the love of country and liberty is not extinct amongst us, the memory of this great man will be held in reverence."
Jean Jacques Rousseau
"Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect."
John Adams