Contributions Of John Locke

One person who inspired the founders while writing the Declaration of Independence was John Locke. Locke was an english philosopher and physician whose writings positively affected Thomas Jefferson when writing the constitution. In the constitution it states, "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," In his Two Treatises on Government, this idea was first deemed by John Locke. Thomas Paine was another person who influenced the founders. He was a political activist, author, as well as a revolutionary. He came to America to support the cause against the British, and he aimed to inspire the colonists to declare independence from Britain. He had a much greater impact on the common people, who, after reading these two works, became much more supportive of the Revolutionary cause. Overall, both Paine and Locke significantly improved the ideas of the Declaration of

In his Second Treatise on Government Locke focus’ on liberalism & capitalism, defending the claim that men are by nature free and equal against the idea that God had made all people subject to a king. He argued that people have ‘natural rights’, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, that hold the foundation for the major laws of a society. He says, “…we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit.” (2nd Treatise, Chapter 2, sec 4). John Locke used this claim, that all men were naturally free and equal, for understanding the idea of a government as a result of a social contract. This is where people in the state of nature transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better guarantee the steady and comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property.

Jefferson received a great deal of inspiration from Locke in writing the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration, however, is not a creation of government. The Constitution of the United States is the result of the Declaration. Locke influenced that form of government, as well.

The political philosopher, John Locke is known best for his ideas that influenced Thomas Jefferson while writing the Declaration of Independence. Locke’s views on government were very respected by our founding fathers, even though they were very different from the government styles of his time.

John Locke, who was a 17th century philosopher, helped influence many of the ideas that formed the basis of the American revolution. The United States of America would not exist with the same level of rights, government, and the same quality of life if John Locke had not influenced the constitution and the declaration of independence. With his writings, such as the Two Treatises of Government, and A Letter Concerning Toleration, and with his philosophies on problems during his time such as slavery, the role of the government, equality of the individual, and property rights, John Locke dramatically influenced several of America’s founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

John Locke was an incredibly encouraging figure in the development of the ideals and methods of political functioning in the United States of America. John Locke applied many of his studies to write one of his most famous and moving works. “The Second Treatises of Government” is the document which ultimately struck the United States in their creation of the Declaration of Independence. In Locke’s work he had focused on the idea that governments shouldn’t be dictated by anyone person, but ultimately should be a united entity in which everyone in the country has a say in what is happening. For example, John Locke believed that the government should be in charge of deciding who should be the leading figure of power and protecting their citizens’ “Life, Liberty, and Property”. He also believed that if the government failed to fulfill their duties of protecting their people and establishing a limit of power for the leading figure of the country, it was the responsibility of the citizens to “overthrow the government.” John Locke kept a similar mindset to that of Hobbes when it comes to the government and its power. Locke’s work and ideas would go on to be highly influential upon Thomas Jefferson during the process of writing the draft of the Declaration of Independence. In this document Jefferson kept very close ties to Locke’s ideas to create what he believed would be the ideal government.

John Locke’s political philosophy has had a lasting impact on multiple influencers throughout history. With praises from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and countless others, Locke’s radical views on government have inspired many of the ideals of the American Revolution that we hear about today. “His influence in the history of thought, on the way we think about ourselves and our relation to the world we live in, to God, nature and society, has been immense” (Uzgalis). It’s safe to say that without Locke’s writings we wouldn’t have many of the political ideologies on natural and human rights that we hold so dear. Ironically, his complete body of work known as The Two Treatises of Government was published anonymously, and John Locke only acknowledged ownership in his will.

Abhishek Sathiabalan Ms. Carmelitano World History I 1 June 2015 John Locke John Locke is a well-known enlightenment philosopher. He is known for writing Two Treatises of Civil Government and Thomas Jefferson is known for using his ideas in the Declaration of Independence. His Treatises heavily influenced the United States and numerous other republics (A republic is a form of government in which power is held by the people and their elected representatives instead of a monarch) to form. The United States of America and its allies (who are mostly republics) are the strongest countries on Earth and all of them are heavily influenced by his ideas.

John Locke “proved to be the most influential philosophical and political thinker of the seventeenth century” (Kagen 213). He lived in a period of great political change; Locke’s upbringing came to influence his philosophies, and these ideas had much significance in regards to the Enlightenment.

John Locke is uniquely considered a major political philosopher of the Enlightenment. Locke’s ideas subsequently flowed from the Glorious Revolution, thus stemming with ideas of abolishing the divine rights of kings and established man-made governments. His writings state that everyone is a creature of God, therefore all are equal and have liberties to become independent; everyone cannot stay in the state of nature, because men are impartial judges, needing a system of government to make laws in order to preserve society. His influence on constitutional based governments exist worldwide, including that of the United States.The United States switched from a Divine Rule of Kings of England to governing itself in their states. Locke's ideas are clearly echoed through the founding documents of the Declaration Of Independence and U.S Constitution. These documents set the principles for the government: to preserve the life, liberty and

John Locke presents ideas within “Toleration and Government” which form a liberal ideology. The aim of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses within John Locke’s ideology. Paragraph I will discuss the main concepts in the text. Paragraph II will identify the ideology’s explanation of political phenomena, it’s criteria and standards of explanation, and it’s cultural and social orientation. Paragraph III exemplifies elements which I found strong within Locke's work.

The Enlightenment Era was an era of brilliance skepticism and innovation for the world we humans live on. Ranging from Thomas Hobbes to Rousseau, the Enlightenment Era has revealed many brilliant minds, including the best philosopher of the said time, John Locke. A philosopher and a physician, John Locke was introducing ideas that to others, seemed ridiculous; however, these ideas and beliefs are the ideas that have led our society to the current state we live in. The influence and principles of John Locke had maintained a solid foundation throughout his years he was present and after his death. Which is why, many scholars of the past and present have crowned John Locke to be “The most influential philosopher” of the Enlightenment period, and why many have also crowned him as the father of liberalism. In brief, John Locke and his ethics had proven to stay solid, influencing future minds within the fields of philosophy and political theory.

Locke explains the need for civil government by detailing life with the absence of an actual central government. This is the untimely case of a reality. At the hand of this, one can see the demand and position of a central government. He starts off by exemplifying political power in which is defined as the right of making laws with costs (discipline) varying with the nature of misbehavior. These laws are kept for the conservancy of property, the advancement of the community and its defense.

John Locke believed that man’s natural state is pre-political. According to the dictionary , Politics is the “art or science of government” and also the “total complex of relations between people living in society”. Although both of these definitions cover a wide range of circumstances, the common attribute is the collection of people associated with a government or a society. Locke defined his state of nature as the environment that existed before man realized he needed organized help from other human beings. This organized help could take the form of protection from others or justice for settling disputes and

It was the Founding Fathers’ view of power that led them to declare their independence from Britain. When the French and Indian War ended, Britain gained a large amount of territory which costed a large sum of money to defend from trespassers. Consequently, Parliament started to tax the colonists without their consent. This unbalance of power caused tensions between Britain and the original 13 colonies. Therefore, the Founding Fathers decided that power should be distributed equally amongst the people and that government should be limited. These views were only strengthened when John Locke wrote “The Second Treatise of Civil Government”, which discussed natural rights, consent of the governed, and limited government. Many of the ideas of John Locke were widely accepted and used by the Founding Fathers, specifically Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of independence, Jefferson altered Locke’s phrase “life, liberty, and property” into “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. These three ideas of Locke exist to this day in American political culture. Liberty is at the core of American values, some individuals quote Patrick Henry who said, “Give me liberty, or give me death” in the Revolutionary War. This famous statement of the Revolutionary War reflects that if there is no freedom (liberty) to choose or express oneself, then there is no purpose to living a life where one is not in control of their destiny. The second ideal, consent of the governed, describes how