John Locke: The Justification Of The American Revolution

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.

Locke argues the illegitimacy of absolute monarchy as a form of government and offers readers a new form of government and civil society wherein individuals surrender their natural rights in exchange for: “the peace,

Individual reason was an important part of John Locke’s ideas on government. Locke lived in an absolute monarchy government. John Locke said that we must consider that all men are in “a state of perfect freedom”(Doc A). Therefore he states; “There is nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank…” (Doc A). This states that no one as strong as a man himself can understand what is truly right for himself. John also states that “... They are not only a right to get out of [a failed government], but to prevent it” (Doc A). John makes several points in his document about individual freedom. His point is to show that everyone has natural rights given to us at birth. We are given human equality and the chance to fix our government if broken down, as long as no laws are broken.

The citizens relinquished some, but not all of their natural rights to be a part of society. So no ruler could claim absolute power over all elements of a citizen’s life. This create important room for certain individual rights or liberties. Most importantly, a government which failed to adequately protect the rights and interests of its citizens or a government which attempted to overstep its authority would have failed in performing the task for which it was created. In that case, its citizens would be entitled to rebel and replace the existing government with one which would suitably carry out the duties of ensuring peace and civil order while respecting the individual’s rights. As quoted by Locke: ‘… and thus everyman, by consenting with the others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to everyone of that society to submit to the determination of the majority and to be concluded by

John Locke published in 1690 a twenty yearlong masterpiece, which ultimately becomes the masterwork of this great philosopher, titled as An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. This philosophical treatise took twenty years to complete when he began his work on The Easy in 1670. Locke composed The Essay in order to formulate what it is and is not likely attainable for us to fathom and perceive. John Locke’s aim was not to establish utmost certainty but to fathom the amount of substance we can distribute to distinctive categories of knowledge. What is knowledge according to John Locke? Locke went about answering this question by splitting up his philosophical essay into four books, where the first three provided the infrastructure for the arguments set out in Book IV. Do we enter this world with a mind that is a blank slate or is a person born into this world equipped with knowledge? Paramount to Locke’s discourse during the whole of the Essay is the notion that when an individual born into this world their mind is a blank slate. Locke argued that all of our knowledge is from information one collects from the five senses – we enter this world knowing nothing – experience is our master teacher and imparts knowledge. This is the underlying score of empiricism that is so often contributed to Locke, a philosophical theory in contrast to innatism – the theory that knowledge is inborn – and to rationalism where the attain knowledge of reality through the power of reason apart

John Locke was born on August 29, 1632 in Somerset, England. His father was a lawyer and served in the military during the English Civil War. Growing up, Locke received an astounding education. He went to Westminster School in London, then the Christ Church of Oxford. In the end, he graduated with a bachelor degree in medicine. Locke met the Earl of Shaftsbury, and he became his personal physician. He later wrote “Two Treatises of Government”, which discussed his revolutionary ideas referring to the natural rights and other political theories. This writing caused England to potentially start a revolution, and he was put in exile, meaning he had to leave England. While on exile in Holland, Locke wrote “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”,

Locke states that the dissolution of the government can be completed if the officials overstep the trust placed in them. Locke also believes that if an official passes a law the people who appointed them did not wish for them to pass, then they are ruling without authority. If a government fails to enforce laws in society or uses force without rights, then the people are able to create a new legislative power.

America broke away from Great Britain and gained independence due to the fact that the British king had more than a few wars with the people of America. Not only this he was taxing them more and more and this resulted in things like the stamp act and the tea act. Furthermore the people of America couldn‘t make any laws for themselves. Another thing that pushed the American people to want to break away for Britain is the fact that the king simply had too much power, and in conclusion to that the revolution started. The American men believed all men were created equal, and that they should be able to have natural rights to freedom. John Locke played a very big role on the writing Declaration of Independence, this is because of Locke‘s idea that

In this chapter, Locke explains why an absolute monarchy regime is a poor and ineffective way of governing people. The issue with this is that there is authority in one person, which causes most to suffer because the one in absolute control has the power to infringe on people’s property and welfare. People would rather join a civil government where the majority will be in control and everyone is governed by the laws, in order feel like their natural rights aren’t being threatened. Locke points out that people aren’t bound to the civil government when they are born because they are born free. As they get older they develop reason and are able to determine, if they truly want to be part of their parents civil government. When people decide to join a civil government they give up rights they had when they were in a state of nature. They partially give up the right to do as they wish because the laws of a civil society may be stricter than that of natural law and they fully give up power to punish the crimes committed against them because it’s the executive group has the sole power to carry out the punishment. Locke was one of the first to introduce the idea of separating power between the legislative group, executive,

Locke begins the passage discussing that we need to differentiate between society and government. One of the first things Locke discusses is how a way to disband the government. One way Locke introduces dissolving government is to change the legislature so that everyone is combined under one body. He is wanting to create a civil state that works best for the citizens not for the interest of higher power. He explains that we begin to rely too much on government for protection in our life, liberty, and property of the people. He wants the people elected to be from the society like I stated above. Later in the passage, Locke explains how people are too ignorant to institute government and that will set it up for destruction. He points out how

In 1693, John Locke published a book titled: Some Thoughts Concerning Education. Three key themes addressed in the piece are the development of self-discipline through esteem and shame rather than force or reward; the importance of developing good character; and the prominence of developing reason in a child by treating the child as a rational entity.

The Age of Reason saw the rapid transformation of Britain in philosophical, political and religious aspects alike. Great minds were flourishing in the resplendent era: Bacon, Leibniz, Hume, John Locke… Among them, John Locke was arguably the most qualified representative of the specified times. As one of the trio of the renowned British Empiricists, a crucial contributor to social contract theory and the founder of Liberalism, he was among the first to put forward the ideas of limited government, the influence of which reached farther beyond the Isles in later times, flapping across the English Channel to France, and even the Atlantic to the New World. Born in 1632, ten years

Locke’s political theories about majority rule revolutionized the way that people began to view the government and they shaped the way that we perceive societies today. When Locke published his Second Treatise of Government in 1689, King William III ruled as the absolute monarch of England (PBS 1). During and prior to this time period, monarchs had full authority over their subjects, regardless of popular consensus or the majority rule of the public. The king could suspend laws passed by other bodies of government, like Parliament, as he wished. This kind of power was supposedly bestowed on royal families by God, an ideology known as the Divine Right of Kings. Locke, on the

Locke directly speaks out against absolute government power, “[...] it is evident, that absolute monarchy, which by some men is counted the only government in the world, is indeed inconsistent with civil society [...]” (48). In an absolute monarchy, there is nothing holding the ruler to ruling for his or her subjects; said subjects must obey laws and orders without reason, or face punishment. To counter any one person or any one entity from obtaining absolute power, he devised an early system of checks and balances. Unlike the United States government, Locke’s ideal government was bicameral, holding a legislative branch and an executive branch. “But because those laws [...] therefore there is no need, that the legislative should be always in being,” (Locke, 75). This system would prevent lawmakers from being exempt from the very same laws which they create, otherwise it was apparent that those lawmakers would be tempted to make them for personal gain; the idea of self preservation contrasts Locke’s idea of preservation of the fellow man, which is what he thought the quintessence of civil society should be (76). This preservation of fellow man is what leads Locke to describe the third and somewhat unofficial power in his government, that of the people. When the system of checks

Ideologies are often born out of a minority view conceived upon a critique on the functioning of the current state of society and epoch. These ideologies each contain specific and unique ideas and beliefs that are never universally accepted, for if they were no other form of ideology would ever manifest. Liberalism is perhaps one of the most commonly accepted political ideologies that frequents present society; this ideology revolves around individual freedoms and equality under our current capitalistic economic relations. John Locke is often noted as the father of classical liberalism – of which other forms of liberalism came from – due to his influential works in favour of ideas that reflect what is now known as liberalism. Alongside