John Locke 's The Second Treatise Of Civil 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.

Locke’s idea of the state of nature men had kept their promises and honoured their obligations. In locke’s first treatise he argued that there was no divine right for monarchs, because God didn't put men above others and therefore everyone was equal. In his second treatise he strikes Hobbes and speaks his thought on the state of nature “man is free and in this condition all men equal”. For Locke, in the state of nature all men are free to order their actions, of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the of the law of nature. This idea influenced him to believe that human nature is represented by reason and tolerance the reasoning was "The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it", and that law is the reason. Much different than Hobbes, who had believed people were selfish and needed to be

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.

On August 29 1632 John Locke was born in a town named Wrington and lived in a small Somerset village. His mother died when John was at a very young age. His father was a country lawyer and died a couple years after his mother. He went to Westminster in1646 and then Oxford in 1652. In 1666 John started practicing medicine on Lord Ashley. Ashley and Locke became known to become good friends. In 1668 Locke was elected to be in the Royal Society. The Royal Society was for improving natural knowledge. John did a lot of amazing things in his life time and he accomplished a lot and the one thing that influenced John the most was most likely to be that his parents died at a very young age and that usually has a great effect on children that can later lead into adult hood.

John Locke was born on August 29, 1632 in Wrington, England. During this time the Puritan migration to New England was occurring. Locke was born into a Puritan family, but he was able to receive a good education. A good education was difficult to get during this time unless you were of a higher social class, but luckily for Locke his father has connections to the English government. The first school he attended was Westminster school in 1647 then continued his schooling at Christ Church, University of Oxford (1652). While at Christ Church he studied medicine and graduated in 1656. Locke’s extensive schooling led to him being elected to the Royal Society in 1668. Locke graduated with a bachelors in medicine in 1674, he then moved to London to be Lord Ashley’s (Lord of Shaftsbury) personal physician. Gradually Lord Ashley became a more important figure in the society, Locke’s responsibilities grew too. Locke began to get involved with political and business matters, when Lord

Background Info: Locke was born in 1632 to a wealthy Puritan family and was highly involved in politics during the Glorious Restoration. His witnessing of the effective overthrowing of the government in order to place better suited rulers in power greatly influenced his perspective on government (RJ Lecture).

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

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 Locke’s second treatise of government, John Locke described that to understand the rights of individuals and role of government, one must starts with a consideration of men in a state of nature. In a state of nature where everyone is equal and free, everyone could do anything as long as they followed the law of nature. In the law of nature everyone had a right to self-preservation, and it is against the law of nature to impose that right. Due to the fact that there is no such thing as private property in nature or the bible, John Locke uses the right to self-preservation to justify the existence of private property. It is clear to lock that individuals came before society in the state of nature, therefore individuals are more important than any social order.

He proclaims that all men are born of the same state, but God gives privileges to certain individuals. These privileges are what rank one race, religion, culture, and gender over another. However, Locke believes respect should be given to every other man’s lives, health, liberty, and possessions (68, Ward). In Locke’s state of nature there is no government, but rather every man implements punishment accordingly to the crime committed (eg. Murder is solved by killing the murder). On the contrary, Locke’s state of nature lacked laws for men to abide by, judges to mandate disputes, and the power to execute a law or enforce a sentence within

John Locke’s political philosophy has had a lasting impact on multiple influencers throughout history. With praises from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and countless others, Locke’s radical views on government have inspired many of the ideals of the American Revolution that we hear about today. “His influence in the history of thought, on the way we think about ourselves and our relation to the world we live in, to God, nature and society, has been immense” (Uzgalis). It’s safe to say that without Locke’s writings we wouldn’t have many of the political ideologies on natural and human rights that we hold so dear. Ironically, his complete body of work known as The Two Treatises of Government was published anonymously, and John Locke only acknowledged ownership in his will.

John Locke was a 17th century philosopher and political theorist whose work was extremely influential in establishing what we know today as the United States of America.

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.

Next, under Locke’s state of nature, he also places a heavy emphasis on extensive rights, including property rights. He believed that self-determination implied private property rights and that human life without property is not free. In refutation to this

Locke was a skilled Philosopher, he did not disagree with monarchies but did not agree with the divine right of kings. He concurred with the idea, which he called natural rights. Natural rights were peoples rights to life, liberty, and property.