John Locke's The Second Treatise Of Government

In 1981, the nation was a loose confederation of states, which each operated like an independent country. The government had no judicial branch or executive officer. It lacked the authority to enforce its requests for money or troops from states. Since recently earning independence, the founders and public sought to protect the following in the Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, the right to not be subject to unreasonable seizures or searches, the right to not be forced to quarter soldiers, the right to due process of the law, the right to a fast and public trial by jury with counsel, the right to a civil trial by jury, the right to not be subjected to excessive bail and cruel punishment, and protection of state’s rights. Current protections and responsibility of states and Americans found in the U.S. Constitution were based upon John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, the Magna Carta, and the English Bill of Rights.

I am John Locke. I heard that you're going to have a meeting with the statesman. So, I decided to give you my ideas about the government that would inspire you. As you know it's really important to give citizens their natural rights (life, liberty, and property). Because I believed that everyone was born free, equal, and independent. And the meaning of my natural rights are life: everyone is entitled to live. Liberty: everyone is entitled to do anything they want to so long as it doesn't conflict with the first right. Property: everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade so long as it doesn't conflict with the first two rights. Another thing if the government agrees to give citizens their natural rights. I've

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.

Does the desire for power result in a conflict in society? John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government demonstrates how personal interests are the root of injustice. Personal interests possess aspects of self-concern and selfishness. Injustice is the result of personal interests, which leads to working against society’s idea of perfect equality. Private interests such as the craving for power leads to the elimination of equality, and equal opportunity. Locke states that “men [are] biassed by their interest[s]” (Ch. IX, Sec. 124, Pg. 66), therefore personal interests are prejudiced. Man’s desire for power incites injustice that is reflected in three ways of private interests: a desire for wealth, property, and authority.

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.

In chapter two of John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, the idea of a natural law is introduced, and with this law, Locke brings forward several implications of how government is formed and run. Before there was government, everyone had equal rights, and land was a god given right to be shared by everyone. When people began to organize, they consented to give up certain rights to receive certain benefits. Locke argues that this is natural, as since men are equal, “all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal” (sec. 4). If every man provides help for others, everyone benefits. So, even though not everything is perfectly shared and distributed, equality remains, but is balanced through a more complex system.

The Second Treatise of Government provides Locke's theorizes the individual rights and involvement with the government; he categorizes them in two areas -- natural rights theory and social contract. 1.Natural state; rights which human beings are to have before government comes into being. 2.Social contact; when conditions in natural state are unsatisfactory, and there's need to develop society into functioning of central government.

In the text “Second Treatise of Government” by John Locke various themes were presented such as the theme of Dissolution of Government and the Dissolution of the Society. If the society or government is corrupt then it won’t work in either way according to my opinion. In order to have a stable government, a stable society it is necessary to have which provides rules and regulations. Imagine a society without rules & regulations. How chaotic it must be without order and discipline. If both the government and the society work with each other it creates some form of order. In most countries today people do not have a voice in government. The feature I thought about in this particular chapter is about politics in general. I thought about

John Locke’s main idea was that the government should only be there to protect and provide for the people. He thought that society would be better if the government wasn’t so persistent in the lives of citizens. He also believed that people should deserve natural rights. It was his belief that people were born with these rights and that these rights should never be violated by anyone, including the government. He stated “[men are in] a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature…” (Doc. A). In other words, this quote shows that Locke believes that humans have natural rights and that people should be free to use them however they please. Therefore, he believed that no one, especially the government, should have power over peoples’ natural

John Locke believed that all people had the same natural rights of life, liberty, and property. As John Locke said, “...the power of the society or legislative constituted by them can never be supposed to extend farther than the common good...” (Two Treatises of Government, 1690). Locke means that the government doesn’t have any power to impose laws onto the people unless those laws are created for the common good of the people. John Locke also said that “...the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this branch of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends...”

"Our Revolutionary Army took on the greatest superpower of the time," said Colin Powell, former United States Secretary of State and retired four-star general of the United States Army in an interview discussing the Revolutionary War. The British settlers in America became increasingly self-sufficient and felt the British Crown was forcing high tax and denying them their civil liberties. Clearly, the British saw the colonies as a nation they could threaten. However, with a fresh enlightened perspective American 's saw the British Crown 's action as unjustly and would rebel against the crown. Eventually, The British superpower would be defeated by an unruly, inexperienced, divided America to prevail over the world 's mightiest monarch of that time.

The American Revolution, initiated in 1775, sought to gain sovereignty from Great Britain. Doing so would protect from the political domination Britain was pressing on the American colonists. Many of the revolutionaries and founders of the early United States government based the logic of the American Revolution on the work of 17th-Century English philosopher John Locke. He believed that all individuals possessed certain “natural rights”-such as life, liberty and the pursuit of property; and that when the ruling government violated these rights, the people had the right to revolution against their rulers. The violation of these rights is called political domination. In John Locke’s book Second Treatise of Government, he notably explains that

John Locke was born on August 29, 1632, into a middle class family during late Renaissance England. Locke started his studies at Christ Church in Oxford. He then went into medical studies and received a medical license, which he practiced under Anthony Cooper. They became friends, and when Cooper became Earl of Shaftesbury, Locke was able to hold minor government jobs and became involved in politics. Shaftesbury steered Locke towards the views of a government whose law was fair to all, and all were under the law.

John Locke’s Views on Property and Liberty, as Outlined in His Second Treatise of Government

John Locke philosophized that the political system is rooted from the law of nature. The law of nature states that all persons are equal, inducing limitations or restrictions on human freedom and personal liberty. Locke believed that natural rights was not created by societal inclinations, but rather discovered by reason. Locke’s concept of political philosophy emphasizes that the law of nature furnishes persons rights to self-preservation, self-defense, and personal liberty. (Personal Liberty, 414) Locke’s theory on the political system was quite interesting because he believed that the government plays as a servant, working for the benefit of the people, in which the government claims their authority with only the