John Locke And Natural Rights

The ideas of enlightenment thinkers had a significant influence on the philosophical basis of the revolution. This change made natural rights. John Locke is well known for claiming every human has certain rights not given to them by the law or society. Things such as privacy, life, etc. According to document C, preserving of his own property is included with lockes laws. "Again Locke but also allowed in Rousseau's writing.

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.

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

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.

Constitution. John Locke’s belief of “life, liberty, and property” was the most influence on the American. Beside the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, and English Bill of Rights, Locke also has a great influence of limit government. Locke’s Social Contract theory was to protect the basic rights of the people, it for the right of citizens to revolt against their king. Social contract is a convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. According to Locke, the State of Nature is a state of perfect and complete liberty to behavior one's life as one best perceives fit, and free from the interfering of others. Also from Locke’s view of State of Nature, he believes it was given by

During the 18th century a European intellectual movement referred to as the Age of Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, shaped the Western world with the introduction of concepts such as natural rights and the separation of powers. These concepts influenced significant events in history such as the French Revolution, which later on inspired and influenced the American Revolution against Great Britain’s heavy taxation. Furthermore, these significant events introduced the foundations of an ideal government, which stemmed from the ideas of the philosophes of the Age of Enlightenment. For example, John Locke argued that the duty of a government was “to protect the natural rights of the people” ("Foundations of American Government"). Also, Montesquieu

Some of the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced by Enlightenment ideas which are, freedom of speech, equality, freedom of press, and religious tolerance. American colonists did not have these rights, in result, they rebelled against England for independence. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about American's natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These ideas came from the Enlightenment, the ideals led towards the American Revolution soon after (Fisk). "The American Revolution must be considered as an anticolonial war for independence, not only a war of liberation from overseas rule but a war for freedom. The American Revolution was a movement to fulfill aspirations to acquire more property" (Morris, 3).

Natural Rights (Locke) appear in the declaration of Independence as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Jean Rousseau developed the idea of the social contract and the notion of replacing a government that fails to maintain consent is cited as justification for the American Revolution against the English.

John Locke defends the right to private property in Second Treatise of Government by transforming Biblical principles into Capitalist principles. Locke explores nine steps that stem from the Book of Genesis to explain “in a positive way how men could come to own various particular parts of something that God gave to mankind in common” (Locke 11). Locke believes that the unnatural inequality is perfectly acceptable. because he notes that some people work harder than others so they deserve more. The only way to ensure his argument is to guarantee that private property is secured by divinity, otherwise men can give and take away property freely, which includes the sovereign.

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

In the 17th and 18th Century, a new age erupted in Europe that shaped the world and it’s ideas to this day, called the Enlightenment Period or the Age of Reason. During the Enlightenment Period, hundreds of individual ideas were expressed between philosophers as well as the citizens of England and France. Interestingly enough, most of these ideas seemed to share one central theme together. This theme was around individual freedoms that people can and should have, and the natural rights they should also hold. In these discussions of individual freedoms, sprouted innovative ideas regarding politics, economics, religion, and social rights.

Natural Rights: The idea that all people are born with the same, equal rights, such as life, liberty, and property. Thomas Jefferson was a key person in spreading the idea.

Following, numerous years of tension and issues, including unfair taxation, and unlawful restrictions, Great Britain and the colonies, underwent a revolution resulting in their separation. Through their new found freedom came the Declaration of Independence, a formal proclamation affirming the colonies to be ¨Free and Independent States.¨ The Declaration incorporates numerous ideas about government and people, many of which are found in John Locke's natural rights philosophy. Natural rights philosophy explains that all people, after leaving the state of nature, enter into a social contract with their government. In doing so they choose to give up some of their rights but gain protection and inalienable rights. The ideas formulated by John Locke and incorporated into the Declaration of Independence include the belief a person is afforded the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness regardless of their social status or wealth but by being a part of society. Another accumulated concept is the notion that a government derives its power to govern from the consent of the people when they enter into a social contract. Lastly, the power of the people to overthrow a government that fails to protect their unalienable rights was a part of natural rights philosophy incorporated into the Declaration. The Declaration of Independence was a significant component of early America as it sets the goals and ideas for the country as well advocating natural rights

John Locke was the man who began to express the idea of natural rights. The idea of natural rights is that all humans are born with three natural rights: life, liberty, and property. You are meant to respect these rights, which gives us limits as humans. For example, one can not just rob someone’s house without consequences. If someone does commit theft they are punished because they are

From a natural rights perspective the belief is that above all else human beings have basic human rights that must be adhered to regardless of the consequences. Locke (1690, as cited in Burgh et al., 2006) developed the