John Locke Dbq

Locke’s thought on having a king, laws, and a civil society under a social contract was so all men can enjoy and protect their rights. Where all men obtain the right to life, all humans have the right to live and life shouldn't be taken away from another human being. The right to liberty, protecting an individual's freedom and unreasonable detention. The right to property, a citizen in which Locke thought a human's labour was his own, anything created or made should remain that individuals as well and the right to rebel against unjust rulers and laws.

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.

John Locke believed in the state of nature and the dissolution of government. Locke states “When the government is dissolved,the people are at liberty to provide for themselves by erecting a new legislative.” In the quote above John Locke is saying that people are responsible enough to govern themselves without being judged.

John was the most influential political philosopher of the modern period. John wrote the two treatises of government in which he defended the claims that men are by nature “free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to monarchy” (). He also, argued that the people did have rights, such as, the right to life, liberty, and property, in which they have a foundation independent of the laws of any particular society. Locke also claimed that men are naturally free and equal as part of jurisdiction for understanding legitimate political government. Apparently, the government exists by the consent of the people and, that is in order to protect the rights of the people and promote the public good, for that reason if the government fails it can be resisted and replaced with a new government.

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

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

John Locke argued for individual freedom. If we had individual freedom we would have a strong government. Locke said it was necessary to a good government. Locke wrote “People are naturally free and have the right to maintain their freedom.”(Document A) To keep this freedom people needed to construct a government that has both an executive and a legislature. To Locke a government created by the people was the best government in his futuristic sense of

Locke believed that men essentially were governed by the laws of nature that God created and that the government should reflect in such a

A well known political philosopher named John Locke provided new ideas of government to the colonies. Locke thinks that a society should run under a social contract, which makes citizens, “give up all the power necessary to the ends for which they unite a society” (Doc A). This idea of a united society lets people have a say in the way the government runs. Before independence, Great Britain executed orders without any say from the people.

Locke argues that chaos the within the state of nature leads humans to merge into commonwealths. Locke believes without government, men live like beasts. In this society. strength is the strongest quality and the strongest can cause chaos. Locke quotes Genesis 9:6, “Whose sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”(The Bible, Genesis 9:6) He believes that within the state of nature there is some order. This is because naturally humans create order and will punish offenders. Locke notes that the laws of nature are what unify men into political bodies. He argues this because living alone, people are unable to procure their civil interests. Therefore, naturally we seek communion and fellowship for mutual benefit. The personal consent of each individual to join the political body unifies them into a political society or commonwealth. Locke identifies a commonwealth as a “society of men constituted only for procuring, preserving, and advancing their own civil interests.” (78) He argues that this civil interest is in protecting the wellbeing, liberty, and possession of external goods. Locke argues that god gave the world to men in common for their best advantage in life. Therefore, every man has right to self preservation and acquisition of goods. The means in which parts of the earth can be appropriated to an individual are if: there is a necessity for the good to be allocated or the labour of the individual cultivates the possessions. Within the commonwealth, Locke believes all people should have equal access to freedom and civil interests. Children should be educated with reason by parents and then deemed responsible when they reach adulthood. Political power resembles the right of making and enforcing the laws. The laws in

Locke feels that this system of government is lacking in that the ruler has all control, and may not be stopped in abuses of power, which Locke fears. Humans beings decide to form a society out of the state of nature because there must be unity among men in order to protect one another, and so that they may punish offenders of the justice. Men do this under the rule of an indivdual who is selected by the people, and to whom the people give up some of their personal rights.Though humans give up certain rights to the chosen authoriy, they are entitled to certain rights reserved to them alone, which they hold within the society. All members of the society should be equal under the law of justice, and that no man is better than another, since all men are created equal, and all are equal before the laws of nature. The law of nature states that people attain property through the labour they do.The ruler or authority over a society should be an indivdual

No man has any jurisdiction over any other and each has an equal right to his Life, Liberty, and Property. Concerning life and liberty, Men are able to live their lives free from the demands of anyone else. Locke, like Hobbes, considers governments in the State of Nature with respect to each other.

Therefore, even though the rights are the individuals they do not have the right to give them away. In the same respect, no other man or governing body has the ability to take these rights from an individual. (Wives and servants cannot have their rights taken away from them by their husbands or masters because they are human individual endowed with unalienable rights.) The question is then: what is property? Property according to Locke can range from pieces of land to products, but even if a person has none of these “every man has a property in his own person” (Locke). Labor put in is the qualifying factor that turns something from common property to private property. The labor put forth in an individuals being can be seen simply through the act of breathing being at birth to the endeavors of an individual to better his character. When actual land is concerned, the transition to private property is similar to the owning of the individual due to labor applied. Common land, shared by all, becomes the property of an individual by the consent of all those within the common and as long as the individual leaves enough for others and

Locke’s main discussions of freedom took place in his work entitled Two Treatises on Government. These views were built upon the view of a natural state in which every individual maintained a state of natural freedom. In this natural state, each individual was free to make decisions and choose actions without any constraints. Locke felt that under this view every individual should maintain equal and independent and refrain from harming one another. However, the main problem in this concept of freedom is that fact that an individual’s free will can be constrained by the actions of another.

John Locke was been one of Americas most significant figures who influence how the country’s political system works today. Locke redefined the whole nature of the government, his views were similar to Thomas Hobbes’ ideas (Hobbes concluded that people are incapable of ruling themselves because it’s in our nature to self-centered not need to a strong leader to control us), however Locke was more optimistic about people’s ability to reason to help avoid tyranny. In Locke’s Second Treatise of Government he identified the basis to a reasonable government. According to Locke a ruler should gain their authority by the people who will be governed because the duty of the government is to protect the natural rights its people (life, liberty, and property), and said that if the government failed to protect these rights, the people should have the right to overthrow its government. These ideas greatly influence Thomas Jefferson when writing the Declaration of Independence. Federalism has also greatly impacted the political system in the United States because it’s the relationship between the authority and people. There are many ways the government can be divided. For example, a cooperative federalism is when the federal government governs unlimitedly and forces lower governments to supervise and enforce national