Principles Of John Locke And The Declaration Of Independence

The word Social Contract theory was first used by Thomas Hobbes to define royal authority. However John Locke who wrote the two treaties on government” in the 1680’s reinforce the meaning of a new social contract theory. In his version of social contract, he stated “men surrendered a part of their right to govern them selves in order to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law”(Foner, 149). In his argument, natural right such as life, liberty and proper play a huge role. According to Locke, Government or political system is form by equal individuals (mainly men of a household). Although men surrendered part of their right to govern to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, they do retain the natural right of protecting of liberty, life and property against any local or foreign enemies. According to Locke and the

English philosopher and political theorist, John Locke experienced the English Civil Wars first-hand which would later prompt him to question the purpose and structure of government. The wars were the result of conflict between a king who claimed absolute authority by divine right and a Parliament that believed itself to have authority independent of the crown. The English Civil Wars provided the context in which Locke would develop the arguments for his most famous work, the Second Treatise of Government. In the work, Locke begins by claiming that without the existence of government humans exist in a state of nature. Since there is no governing body in the state of nature individuals are free to

These rights included life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He also believed in having a limited government. His ideas had a great impact on the U.S. government and the Declaration of Independence. John Locke’s influence was evident in the Declaration of Independence when it said, “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The colonists believed they had these unalienable rights, therefore the Americans established a government where people would be guaranteed these rights. The Americans believed that Britain was “deaf to the voice of justice.” Britain refused to respond to the outcries of the colonists. John Locke believed selfishness would always get in the way of acting morally, and Britain’s selfishness was blinding them from the suffering the colonists faced. The Americans developed a government that would listen to the people and let them have a

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.

John Locke had many accomplishments. John Locke has public may significance writing; Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1689, Two Treaties of Government in 1690, and Letters Concerning Toleration in 1689-1692. John Locke’s “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” defined the theory of human knowledge, identity and selfhood. In his “Two Treatises of Government” believing that the legitimacy of government relies on consent from its citizens which is given on the basis of equality. A government has the duty to protect the natural rights of its people, if they fail to protect these rights, the citizen have the right to overthrow the government. This writing shows John Locke beliefs in “life, liberty, and property.” In his “Letters Concerning Toleration,”

The United States is upholding the principles of the declaration of independence. Do you think the Government is upholding the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson and John Locke share many similarities in their two writings. In this essay there will make a connection between the two and take a look at how Jefferson may have been or was inspired by John Locke with The Declaration of independence. Two of the main points will be the government's role in the rights of people and what those rights are.

A few examples of the similarities of the Declaration and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government will suffice,

On July 4th, 1776 our founding father's got together to create, “The Declaration of Independence” One of the quotes that benefit all U.S. citizens is that all people living in the United States are entitled to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Life, meaning every person has the right to live, to literally be alive. Liberty, meaning every person has the right to be whatever they choose, and to live their life however they want. The Pursuit of Happiness, meaning every person has the right to pursue happiness and do whatever makes them happy. These are inalienable rights that can never be taken away. John Locke is the person that created the phrase “The Pursuit of Happiness”, but Thomas Jefferson is the person that thought it was a good idea to put that in The Declaration of Independence. What does this phrase mean for us today? What did it mean for people in the past? What was

The declaration of Independence is what shaped and provided the freedom the United States of America has today. The Declaration of Independence today is looked at a symbol for America to reflect on as it paved the way for most of the rights we have today. This document has been fundamental to american history longer than any other text because it was the first text to use “The United States of America” and in a sense the Declaration was the birth certificate of the American nation. It embodied what came to be viewed as the most memorable and clear statement of the ideals on which America was founded: the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, while also the first successful declaration of independence in world history.

There was once a country that did not have unalienable rights. Its citizens did not have the power to live life the way they want to, they could not strive to achieve their full potential, and lived under an oppressive government that did not allow them to have freedom. This description of this “country” may seem like an excerpt from a fictional apocalypse story but this is how America would be like without the Declaration of Independence and its emphasis on the four ideals, which includes equality, unalienable rights, consent of the governed, and the right of the people to alter or abolish the government. This is also the current condition of many countries that do not emphasize the four ideals. The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson in June 1776 after he was asked by the Continental Congress to write a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. At this point, the Revolutionary War has been going on for a year. The colonies finally wanted to break away from Britain and appointed a committee of five to write, edit, and publish the document. The Declaration of Independence stated four important ideals but which ideal is most important? Of these ideals, equality and right to alter or abolish the government are very significant, but the most important ideal is unalienable rights.

Social Contract means the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members. A word that relates to Social Contract is Natural Rights. I think this because Natural Rights are rights that we are born with and a Social Contract are rights that we choose to have that will help us be equal in power. The Social Contract is just like Natural Rights because they both help protect me from bad rulers and powerful people. A word that relates to Social Contract is freedom. I think this because the Social Contract was a way to describe the process of people having a say in things and freedom lets you say what you want without anyone telling you that you can't. Also the social contract you can have the rights you want and just like freedom you can do what you want but still it being

The Declaration of Independence written on July 4, 1776, was the first of the three documents written. When reading this document it is hard to ignore the emotion it exudes of a people not just longing for independence, but rather who’ve grown tiresome of the lack of equality compared to that of those on the motherland. The Declaration of Independence is the autonomous stance of a people declaring not just independence, but claiming their right to disassociate themselves from under the leadership from whom they consider a tyrant and therefore, “unfit” to be a leader of the free land. Unlike the US Constitution, this document discusses and/or lists in depth the atrocities and unconstitutional acts displayed by the ruler of England, the King and its theme is more so a grievance.

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

Principle 1, from The Declaration of Independence, states that all people are created equal, however I do not believe that this principle is being upheld in the U.S. as well as it should be. For example, in the early/mid 1900’s, people of different races were still being discriminated and mistreated even after decades since the abolishment of slavery. People of color were segregated from the whites and were always given the shorter end of the stick when it came to where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat. They were also only allowed at non-white schools and weren't given as great of an education compared to all the white schools. Another example that is actually a personal experience of mine, is when a police officer pulled