John Locke 's Influence On The United States

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.

After years of being subjected to Britain’s constant demands and constricting rules, America decided to pursue the future government and society they desired. They sent a letter to King John III, this letter contained a list of offenses the king had committed, and it also rallied up the colonists to fight for their freedom. This letter, called the Declaration of Independence, was ratified on July 4th, 1776. With the help of five colonists Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence to voice the people’s concerns. This letter ended up impacting how the government developed. The American government was significantly influenced by the Declaration of Independence, which established freedom and more rights for the people, and equality

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.

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

The Founding Fathers of the United States relied heavily on many of the principles taught by John Locke. Many of the principles of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government may easily be discovered in the Declaration of Independence with some minor differences in wording and order. Many of the ideas of the proper role of government, as found in the Constitution of the United States, may be discovered in the study of Locke. In order to understand the foundation of the United States, it is vital that one studies Locke. A few ideas from Hume may be found but the real influence was from Locke. Rousseau, on the other hand, had none.

The Enlightenment was a period of learning and expanding. It was a shift in society and how people thought. John Locke and his ideas contributed in a major way towards the Enlightenment. Locke had three main philosophies, religious tolerance, all men are born a blank slate, and that the divine right to rule is incorrect. His influence on society helped shape the transition of religion to reason & questioning. Locke left a very powerful and positive impact on England during the seventeenth century.

What would the American government be like today if it was not for the mind and political theory of John Locke? Some historians and philosophers believe that without John Locke our government would only be a shadow of what it is today. Arguably, one of his most important political and philosophical works was his Two Treatises of Government. There he argues that the function of the state is to protect the natural rights of its citizens, primarily to protect the right to property. John Locke, in many eyes, can be viewed as one of the father’s of Democracy. He embraced many of ideas in his theories on the state of nature and the rise of political society today. In Locke’s political society,

Locke’s writing helped inspired many, but impacted mostly the western philosophy (“John Locke: Biography.”) In Locke’s milestone, Two Treatises of Government claimed his revolutionary viewpoint, the natural rights of man and the social contract (“James Harrington Encyclopedia.”) Both impression not only overwrought in England, but also encounter the cognoscenti that formed the later American French Revolution. At the time of England’s downfall, Locke became involved in creating a clear objective for the government. Locke believed the government should be limited and should protect the life, property, and liberty of citizens. Locke wanted a government that met the needs of the people, which is what the makers of the constitution took into account when they set up the legislative branch. The legislative branch is made up of the Senate and House of Representatives. Locke was a long time influence of America, especially when he said “being all equal

The enlightenment was a European movement during the 17th and 18th centuries. The enlightenment wasn’t a physical movement; however, it was an intellectual movement. Most of the ideas centered around authority and legitimacy. Later these ideas may have transformed into liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. The enlightenment was valued greatly, considering that it showed people how to think scientifically, and it also let the world understand different scientific processes. John Locke influenced Thomas Jefferson with these enlightenment writings by helping him write the Declaration of Independence because of Locke showing Jefferson that people were born with natural rights.

When looking at the Declaration of Independence and the justifications which Jefferson used in order to encourage the dissolve of the ties between the United Colonies and Great Britain, it becomes apparent how much of the theories of John Locke that Jefferson used as the basis for his argument. Focusing particularly on the second paragraph of the Declaration, the arguments for the equality of each man and the formation and destruction of governments come almost directly from Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The other arguments in the Declaration of Independence deal primarily with each citizen's rights and the natural freedoms of all men, two areas that Locke also spent

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.

Over the course of American history, many famous men and women have acknowledged and praised philosopher John Locke for his substantial influence on American thinking. The praise for Mr. Locke is widespread, coming from historians and presidents alike. In fact, James Otis stated that, “…the authority of Mr. Locke has…been preferred to all others” (20). The founding fathers of America drew heavily from Locke’s writings; in fact, he was the second most quoted source – behind only the Bible. Who, though, was this man influencing the thoughts of our founders? Where did his thoughts take their roots? Most importantly, what view of the world did Mr. Locke’s philosophy present?

Political philosopher John Locke ideas and theories serve as a foundation in our democratic world. In the Second Treatise of Government sovereignty is placed in the hands of the people. Locke argues that everyone is born equal and has natural rights in the state of nature. He also argues that men have inalienable rights to life, liberty and property. The central argument around the creation of a civil society was with the protection of property. In this essay I will explain Locke's theory of property and how it is not anything other than a "thinly disguised defense of bourgeois commercial capitalism." This statement is defended through Locke's personal background and his justifications for the inequalities of wealth.

Providing the 17th century world with an alternative, innovative view on philosophy, politics, economics, and education among other interrelated and important aspects of life, John Locke proved to be a person of immense impact. Born in 1632, in Wrington, England, Locke was the author of many known writings which include the Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), The Two Treaties of Government (1698), A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), and Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) (Goldie 32). Locke’s writings represent a series of topics involving the purpose of philosophy, emergence of empiricism, and the role as well as limits of governments and churches in terms of liberty and natural rights. In a time where exposure of such

John Locke’s views on property and liberty, as outlined in his Second Treatise of Government (1690), have had varying interpretations and treatments by subsequent generations of authors. At one extreme, Locke has been claimed as one of the early originators of Western liberalism, who had sought to lay the foundations for civil government, based on universal consent and the natural rights of individuals. [1] Others have charged that what Locke had really done, whether intentionally or unintentionally, was to provide a justification for the entrenched inequality and privileges of the bourgeoisie, in the emerging capitalist society of seventeenth