Compare And Contrast John Locke And Dual Federalism

John Locke liked freedom, he thought that freedom was good for the government. “...(W)e must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature….” (Doc A) This states that Locke wants freedom but their comes consequences. To have this freedom men needed to create a government with a legislature and an executive. Locke’s main idea was people had rights.

The essence of citizenship in the United States of America lies in constant tension between self-interest and public interest. This balancing act will theoretically preserve and ensure liberty for all citizens, and has a foundational base in philosophies of human nature. John Locke and James Madison were two philosophers with similar beliefs on human nature, whose philosophies helped form a basis of the economic and political systems present today in the US. John Locke and his philosophies heavily influenced James Madison, but while Locke provided logic in the role of government protecting natural rights, Madison formed the actual blueprints of a government. Locke in his treatises of civil government and Madison in the federalist papers explain their respective views of human nature and which political systems are most appropriate for governance. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote an analysis of democracy in America which outlines the importance of civic involvement. Through a comparison of Locke

From Aristotle to John Locke to Thomas Jefferson, the ideas of great philosophers influenced the foundations of the United States. When Jefferson began writing the Declaration of Independence, he wanted to make this new country based on the basic fundamentals. He wanted to base the country on what was considered the natural laws. Jefferson had many philosophical minds to ponder when writing the document, such as Aristotle and most importantly John Locke.

Following the affects of the weak Articles of Confederation set in place in 1777, a change in government was in order after the articles had proven their inability to control or tax the American people. The creation of The Constitution began a new era in American Government and set a new formation of laws and separation of power. The transition from the two very different systems of government was a turning point in American history and led to the type of Government we have to this day. After the Revolutionary War and America’s separation from England, it was now up to the American People to decide the kind of government they wanted. After winning the war, the last thing that they wanted, was to have another government that would abuse the

John Locke was perhaps one of the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke discusses the move from a state of nature and perfect freedom to a then governed society in which authority is given to a legislative and executive power. His major ideas included liberalism and capitalism, state of nature, state of war and the desire to protect one’s property.

Federalism is a government system where both the national and state governments share power inside the exact political system. The national government has express powers and implied powers. For example, the national government can make laws. The state governments have reserved powers. For instance, they can carry out the great majority of public services, and are responsible for certain health duties. There are two models of federalism: dual federalism and cooperative federalism. Dual federalism involves national and state governments that are independently run with each government level having its own powers. On the other hand, cooperative federalism deals with national and state governments that both take part in some tasks that used to

In the late 1700s, the United States had began to split into two factions: Federalists and Antifederalists. Factions are groups of citizens united by a common interest. The reasoning behind the differing views of how the government works across the world was best said by Locke “Men are equal in a natural sense, but society establishes many dimensions that are unequal”. (Barbour and Wright, 2017). In the states, Federalists wanted a strong central government while anti-federalists wanted a weak one. “The Georgians, for example, wanted a strong central authority to provide military protection for their huge, underpopulated state against the Creek Confederacy; Jerseymen and Connecticuters wanted to escape from economic bondage to New York; the Virginians hoped to establish a system which would give that great state its rightful place in the councils of the republic” (Roche, 800). The one thing they agreed on was having George Washington as president. George Washington tried to be a neutral leader of the United States and suggested for the states to stay together rather than divide into factions. “Thomas Jefferson is credited as stating: “North and South will hang together if they have you to hang on””(Jamison, 2016).

James Madison wrote an essay called, “The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles.” He wrote a section called, “Federalist 39,” which talked about publicizing the Constitution, “partly federal and partly national .” James Madison argues with his claim because it was reliable with Dual Federalism.

While reading the “The Second Treatise of Government,” you can notice and see that John Locke has a strong standing for civil rights as well as helping with the development of the Constitution of the United States. He states that the “consent of the governed,” is basically saying that communities are not put together by the divine right or ruled by. Paternal, familial, and political are types of powers that John Locke mentions that have all have unlike characteristics. He inspired others to believe in and want equal rights and democracy. John Locke talks about the state of nature, which basically states that no one has the power to be ruler of someone, as well as they are able to do what they want in a freely matter. In other words people are born just like anyone else that is born, and should have equally rights to property, health, and liberty, and that no one should have the power over anyone. Everyone should be able to live and enjoy his or her own freedom and wellbeing. However, the state of nature is not a guarantee to have natural laws, which could help with the protecting of one’s property. According to him having your own personal freedom was the true meaning of state of nature. John Locke thought that people were following his faith in human rationality through the declaration of Locke. John Locke states that if the government takes away from others for them to empower them then the people have right and opportunity to go against

John Locke argued for individual freedom. If we had individual freedom we would have a strong government. Locke said it was necessary to a good government. Locke wrote “People are naturally free and have the right to maintain their freedom.”(Document A) To keep this freedom people needed to construct a government that has both an executive and a legislature. To Locke a government created by the people was the best government in his futuristic sense of

Between 1775 and 1791, evolving American attitudes toward the form and powers of a national government created a unique fabric of emerging ideas that called for fundamental reforms. At first, many Americans opposed a strong central government and instead wanted strong state governments, afraid of a tyrannical central government like the one they had fought so hard against in the Revolution. However, over time, many Americans began to realize that a strong central government was imperative to upholding the rights of the people, a changing attitude that paralleled the events of the time period. This evolution and interplay of Federalist and Anti-Federalist views led to the development of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, and the

John Locke strongly influenced American government. In the Declaration of Independence for example, the idea of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" was a philosophical idea from Locke. He believed that one who governs must gain authority through the consent of those they govern. Locke also thought that the ones with authority must protect the natural rights of their citizens and if they didn't, then the citizens would have the right to overthrow the government. All these ideas deeply influenced Thomas Jefferson, which is apparent in the Declaration of Independence. His ideas were also used by slavery abolitionist and women suffragist.

After the American Revolution the newly formed “government” was far from organized. Yes, the people achieved independence from a unruly and unjust mother country, but at what cost? Not only did this young nation have very little sense of a true structured government, but it was broke with most people were unaware of the situation on in their own country. The first written piece of real structured government was the Articles of Confederation. Although this document was criticized for it failing in the end, it was actually a very important step in the right direction towards a fully function government. Another problem raised during this time was the separation between federalist and anti-federalist. The federalists favored of a strong central government while the opposing anti-federalists sought to split the power among the states more evenly. Additionally the federalists privileged some of the more conventional British policies that were in place before the war. The anti-federalists were in favor of power “for the people”. If I were alive during this time I would be in preference of the constitution and most likely would have associated myself with the federalists.

The Constitution placed a great deal of power back into the hands of a strong, central government much like that of a monarchy. “The extraordinarily powerful national government that emerged from Philadelphia possessed far more than the additional congressional powers that were required to solve the United States’ difficulties” (Wood 151). The U.S. government was extremely revolutionary though, in the way that it viewed and handled sovereignty. “Unlike the British in relation to their House of Commons, the American people never surrendered to any political institution…their full and final sovereign power” (Wood 160). Throughout the entire American struggle to establish a suitable government, the citizens maintained their ability to influence policy in a way that the British never could.

One of the main debates the framers had, among the many, was how much power the government would have. James Madison, the author of federalist paper number 51 and who stood against the anti-federalist, said that it was necessary to have a check and balance system implemented on the government in order to avoid the risk of giving too much power to one entity. He said that the people will “check” their government ultimately having the power (Chapter 2, Section 8 OTD). This statement is true, but it had other limitations on the people because Madison developed an insulated system which gave the masses power to pick their house of representatives, but its system then narrowed to give power to those who were educated to make choices based on State Legislators and the Electoral College. After this process, those chosen got to decide who got picked as senators and President. The votes underwent a system that was filtered, so in the end the social elitists were the only ones to have the choice of who was to be elected giving them the true position of power not the people. The masses had the potential to be rational and reasonable people, as John Locke indicated, but they are too uneducated in the field of politics (Chapter 1, Section 2 OTD). It’s evident that the elite understood what was needed in a macro scale, whereas a common individual was more concerned with daily issues that they were faced like doing chores. Not to say that the common person’s interests