The Second Treatise Of Government By Locke

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.

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 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.

In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke argues that the authority of a legitimate political regime is based on the consent of free, equal, rational and reasonable persons. Locke differentiates between two forms of consent - express and tacit. Express consent is when an individual openly articulates a willingness to join the government. This makes the individual a perpetual citizen / the individual incorporates their person into the commonwealth. Those who have given express consent are unalterably subject to society and are never again at liberty as in the state of nature.

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 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

For most of human history people have been debating what is the appropriate nature of the relationship between the individual and society. Starting with the ancient Greek, most people thought that individuals should be subordinate to society. In the publication The Second Treatise of Government, John Locke was the first to promote individualism over society. Though his ideas were considered as liberal, now are embraced by many conservative. John Locke’s ideas are the basis of the American government and so it is important to keep America 's nature; the rights of life, liberty to own property, and the pursuit of happiness; at heart when creating laws.

Democracy was not created in a day. Instead it was made after years of monarchy where any democratic ideas were unthinkable. Luckily, for us in the seventeenth century a man by the name of John Locke reevaluated many ideas from Ancient Greek and Rome and created a stable foundation for many of our government ideas. This document was named Two Treatises of Government and though he got backlash from many people it was the structure used to create two very important documents. These two documents were The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and A Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen recorded by the National Assembly of France.

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.

The theory of tacit consent basically states that if a person receives and accepts the advantages under the government rule, he or she has tacitly consented to carry the obligations imposed by the government under which they live (Locke, 1952, 52). Locke's theory has been widely disputed for many reasons including Hannah Pitkin's view that residence is not normally a sign of tacit consent (Tuckness 2016) and John Simmons' view that tacit consent needs more framework in order to allow legitimate government (2008, 277). Both of them argues that tacit consent itself is not sufficient enough to make impactful voices to be heard in the government. In fact, Pitkin and Simmons state that more concrete governmental procedures need to be added onto the theory of tacit consent. In this paper, I will consider the two arguments that explains why Locke's theory of consent still fails to save the idea of

John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government has a clear explanation between the laws of society and the laws of nature. Not only does Locke explain his side, so does Hobbes. They both have similarities and their differences. Locke was trying to get the point across that through the state of nature, men should be governed by reason. In contrast, the Ends of Political Society states that men can punish or get punished if they violate any rule based on the State of Nature.

John Locke (1689) and Thomas Hobbes (2010) share a common underlying concern: establishing a social contract between the government and the governed. To be legitimate, government must rest in the final analysis on the “consent” of the governed, they maintain. They also share a common view of humanity as prone to selfishness (Morgan, 2011 p. 575-800). Given the modern era, Hobbes views of the state of nature and government seem antiquated; no longer do the masses wish to be subservient to anyone man without question. Lockean principals are now the base for today’s modern, just, prosperous and free states.

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