John Locke Influence On American Government

English philosopher and political theorist, John Locke experienced the English Civil Wars first-hand which would later prompt him to question the purpose and structure of government. The wars were the result of conflict between a king who claimed absolute authority by divine right and a Parliament that believed itself to have authority independent of the crown. The English Civil Wars provided the context in which Locke would develop the arguments for his most famous work, the Second Treatise of Government. In the work, Locke begins by claiming that without the existence of government humans exist in a state of nature. Since there is no governing body in the state of nature individuals are free to

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.

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.

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,”

A few examples of the similarities of the Declaration and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government will suffice,

Some of the founding fathers have been firm believers in the ideas posed in John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government”. The one idea that can be seen quite clearly is the complete dissenting stance taken by Locke on the thought of monarchy in civil government. “Absolute monarchy,

CD: In his Second Treatise on Government, published in 1689, Locke discusses the natural human state as free, unregulated, and that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions”. (BOOK)

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

Unlike Hobbes, John Locke honestly believes in the good in man and affirms that they have the ability to maintain a civil society with limited government involvement. He credits man’s want to live in a safe and comfortable environment as the reason why they would come together peacefully, not the aggressive rule of government. Locke also believes that there should be a separation in powers of government in order to properly serve the

Throughout the Late 18th century America was becoming their own independent nation. The new independent nation needed to set up a government to rule them. There were several discussions on how America would be governed. Many people had different ideas for America and yet some were similar. Thomas Paine, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson all wrote their ideas on how America should set up their government. Some of these ideas were not used while some are still used today.

Locke’s opinion not only implies that there is a right to revolt, but also that the people have the right to establish a new legislature. The sovereign must act in the public’s best interest to maintain this active permission from the people, not his own.

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.

Locke’s main discussions of freedom took place in his work entitled Two Treatises on Government. These views were built upon the view of a natural state in which every individual maintained a state of natural freedom. In this natural state, each individual was free to make decisions and choose actions without any constraints. Locke felt that under this view every individual should maintain equal and independent and refrain from harming one another. However, the main problem in this concept of freedom is that fact that an individual’s free will can be constrained by the actions of another.

The views of Locke and Godwin on the origin of government are different but share many similarities which due to the influence of the enlightenment. The origin of Godwin 's ideas came from the basic idea of the enlightenment that everyone can think rationally, the overriding goal of enlightenment was to give individuals greatest possible freedom and let them did contribution to society due to humanity 's fundamental rationality and goodness. Therefore, Godwin believed that if everyone can achieve their self-perfectibility, rational men had no need for government to imposed from the outside, just as the utopia he conceived (Sonn 1992, p.14). However, Locke 's views which also influenced by Renaissance in some extent that he tried to provide a conception of the state of nature where men being are free, equal and independent, which included in the nature right. After that, a civil society is established by giving part of their power to community