How did pre-contact populations of north america relate to their environments? how did contact with europeans and africans change these relations in north america?

Before the arrival of Europeans, many North American populations used their environments as a means to survive. For example, many indigenous populations hunted animals, grew crops (like corn), and moved constantly in order to follow big game (such as buffalo). Regardless, many populations did not view land as something that can be possessed by one individual or group.  Rather, they saw land as something that all members of the community could use.

This drastically changed with the arrival of Europeans. During this time, Europeans viewed land as something that individuals controlled. Along with this, land was viewed as extremely valuable due to the resources it could provide. These differing views of land caused significant problems between Europeans and indigenous people.

social contract theory basically says that all individuals are born equal, and provided a god given right to consent to be governed. american government is based of this

thomas hobbes and john locke said that we are selfish, individualistic, and constantly at war with each other, therefore we need to be controlled. 

government is defined as the legitimate use of force to control human behavior within territorial boundaries, here comes in hobbes and locke.

hobbes takes the part about controlling human behavior. while locke takes the part of legitimate use of force, since force is not legitimate unless there is consent of the people. 

there are basically 3 goals of the government: 1) maintain order by protecting life and property. 2) providing public goods, those which are typically not provided by the public sector, such as roads and education. 3) promote equality be it political, opportunist or outcome equality.