John Locke's Second Treatise Of Democracy

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.

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.

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.

The precepts of the Enlightenment did not concentrate simply on religious liberty. It concentrated on universal ideas such as limited government, popular sovereignty, private property and yet others. And in order to secure these civil liberties, it was first necessary to establish a government predicated on limited authority. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of freedom, both civil and political.”

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 believed he could improve government in society. “Creatures of the same species and rank should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection” and “ When the government is dissolved, the people are at liberty to provide for themselves, by erecting a new government”(Document A).This means that People need to create their own government when the past one is gone. With this task they need to establish laws on what they think fit and that people will follow. These laws need to be fair and impartial so they give everyone equal rights. That is how philosophers during the enlightenment believed they could improve society in the area of government.

"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.

John Locke and the founding father did not include every single right in the Constitution, however, that does not mean that a right can be claimed without the people’s consent. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Lock discusses the prerogative right that a President can claim. The prerogative right is the right of a president to “act according to discursion for the public good” . Executive Privilege is not usually an issue when the President acts in the common good of individuals because most individuals understand why the action is taken. When an action is for the public good, “the people are very seldom or never scrupulous or nice in the point or questioning of prerogative whilst it is in any tolerable degree employed for the use it

As a result of severe starvation and discontent, revolts began rising throughout France, and eventually Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were deposed and decapitated by French revolutionaries. After shuffling through a series of new leaders and legislatures, a man named Robespierre came to power. Robespierre incited fear throughout France by fueling a period of time known as the Reign of Terror. Over this short 15-month period, over 40,000 French citizens died (PBS 1). Many died due to being executed, while others starved to death or became extremely sick.

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 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”,

The enlightenment was a great period of establishment of democracy. Throughout the enlightenment there were philosophes who believed greatly in a democratic government. Some of the most familiar philosophes were Voltaire, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. Each one of

In Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government, he discussed three forms of power and one of them is absolute arbitrary power. Locke defines this type of power as despotical where one person has the mean to take the life and property of another against his or her will. Now that the term “absolute arbitrary power” has been defined, in the situation of applying this power on to oneself, I believe that it is only justifiable if I have this kind of power over myself.