Comparison Of John Locke And Social Contract Theory

While our country was fighting for its independence at an early age there was one man who had the most powerful influence from the tip of his pen and this man was John Locke. John Locke had an incredible amount of influence on the declaration of independence and this came from the fact that he expressed the radical view that “government is morally obliged to serve the people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property.” John Locke was a big part of helping influence what this country has come to be today and he often goes unrecognized when labeling big contributors to the declaration of independence.

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.

Locke is best known for his philosophical ideals regarding the rights of humankind- all individuals have the right to life, liberty, and property.

These rights included life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He also believed in having a limited government. His ideas had a great impact on the U.S. government and the Declaration of Independence. John Locke’s influence was evident in the Declaration of Independence when it said, “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The colonists believed they had these unalienable rights, therefore the Americans established a government where people would be guaranteed these rights. The Americans believed that Britain was “deaf to the voice of justice.” Britain refused to respond to the outcries of the colonists. John Locke believed selfishness would always get in the way of acting morally, and Britain’s selfishness was blinding them from the suffering the colonists faced. The Americans developed a government that would listen to the people and let them have a

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.

John Locke had many accomplishments. John Locke has public may significance writing; Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1689, Two Treaties of Government in 1690, and Letters Concerning Toleration in 1689-1692. John Locke’s “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” defined the theory of human knowledge, identity and selfhood. In his “Two Treatises of Government” believing that the legitimacy of government relies on consent from its citizens which is given on the basis of equality. A government has the duty to protect the natural rights of its people, if they fail to protect these rights, the citizen have the right to overthrow the government. This writing shows John Locke beliefs in “life, liberty, and property.” In his “Letters Concerning Toleration,”

John Locke was an English writer, and his writings were based on the events that took place during the Glorious Revolution in England in 1689, when the people of England overthrew King James II. John Locke was interestingly enough, brought up in a loyalist and Evangelical family. He was born to a very wealthy family, and received much prestige in Oxford for his connections to the higher ups. Locke presented his ideas of rebellion during the English civil war which took place in the mid-1600s, in favor of the revolts against the King’s rule in England at the time. John Locke graduated with a degree in medicine from Oxford University.

John Locke was born in 1632, in Wrington, England. He studied medicine at the University of Oxford, but he eventually became the great philosopher everyone remembers him as (Connolly, n.d.). In 1688, King William III, supported by the Whigs, took the throne of England from King James II in what is known as the Glorious Revolution (UK Parliament, n.d.). Locke had a strong connection with the Whigs in England, so he wrote the Second Treatise on Government as a justification for the revolution. Throughout the Second Treatise on Government, Locke claims that an individual is born with the rights to “life, liberty, and property.” He believes that it is the governments purpose to preserve these rights with laws which favor neither the rich nor poor. In addition, these laws must be designed for “the good of the people.” Lastly, “[the government] must not raise taxes on the property of the people, without the consent of the people…” (Locke, 1688)

Many of John Locke’s ideas were input into the Declaration of Independence, as his primary words “life, liberty” and instead of property, the pursuit of happiness, are the basis of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Locke’s arguments concerning liberty influenced the works of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, as his Second Treatise is imitated in the Declaration of Independence. When the founding fathers adopted the resolution for the nation’s

John Locke believed that everyone had a series of God-given rights—a natural moral law, and people gave rights to the government when it came to how they should be ruled. Locke is responsible for some of the most influential writings on liberty. His writings helped influence Thomas Paine’s ideas about revolution. James Madison, one of the writers of the bill of rights, was influenced greatly by Locke, and the French philosopher Voltaire called him “the man of great wisdom.”

His writings had a great impact in the perception of the leaders of America. John Locke was an English philosopher who highly influenced the Founding Fathers. He highly believed in natural science and in the growing middle class and represented the principles of the Enlightenment. In an essay Locke wrote concerning human understanding in 1690, Locke denied the idea of native beliefs and argued that every individual is born with a blank mind and that it is the environment that shapes the individual. Thomas Hobbes 's belief that kings govern by divine power was rejected by Locke. He believed that every human being was born equal and that the surroundings in the environment was what molded everyone. Locke argued that people are blessed with some natural rights such as liberty, life, and property. Locke was the philosopher that exposed the concept of governmental checks and balances which later became the foundation for the U. S. Constitution.

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

He talks about human equality and believed that all people are creatures of the same species and rank. He believed that everyone should be able to be part of the government and can make it a better one because people are equal amongst each other without different rankings and positions. According to John Locke in Document A, this idea was important because the people had the right to create a new government if the old government fails to do it correctly. Most philosophers believe that having a government is a necessity and due to this, freedom in government has a huge affect on one's society because without one, a community will fall into conflict over power. Individual freedom plays a big part in improving the government because if the people are able to decide on how the role of a government should play out and who should be a part of it, their rights will be protected and their society can gradually grow. As Locke states, people can decide upon whether or not they want a new administration, which means that they'd replace the old one with a new one, which would do much more for their society. To have a government that knows how to do their job, peoples’ rights will be better protected which can improve society as a whole because of the

Locke defended the belief that individuals are born with natural rights to life, liberty, and property in the “Two Treatises of Government” and used it to support the idea of a social contract between the people and the authority. He believed that to maintain a stable and safe society, the people should resign some of its power to its government. Since the legitimacy of the ruler is assigned by the governed they have the right to replace the government if it fails to protect the welfare of the people. His radical thinking ignited revolutionary thoughts that led to the American Revolution and consequentially to the French Revolution. He inspired the founding fathers to create the United States of America, a government based on Locke’s political philosophies like the inalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness in the Declaration of Independence or the concept of three branches of government that would keep each other balanced in the

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are often viewed as opposites, great philosophers who disagreed vehemently on the nature and power of government, as well as the state of nature from which government sprung. Hobbes’ Leviathan makes the case for absolute monarchy, while Locke’s Second Treatise of Government argues for a more limited, more representative society. However, though they differ on certain key points, the governments envisioned by both philosophers are far more alike than they initially appear. Though Hobbes and Locke disagree as to the duration of the social contract, they largely agree in both the powers it grants to a sovereign and the state of nature that compels its creation.