Summary Of The Second Treatise Of Government By John Locke

The United States Constitution guarantees citizens’ rights such as freedom of speech and religion, right to a speedy and public trial, and right against unreasonable searches and seizures. With these rights come responsibilities such as paying taxes and obeying federal, state, and local laws. Some are voluntary such as voting and being an active participant in the community. Citizenship rights outlined in the United States Constitution stem from Second Treatise of Government, Spirit of Laws, and Social Contract. These documents emphasize the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy and provided the basis for the Constitution.

New England was fed up with the Church of England and the Puritans wanted to recreate their own religion which they thought was more what God had believed was the intended belief. They both decided that neither of them like the way England was set up and said that England was no good for their beliefs. They planned to leave England and go to the new world to set up a life where their children had the chance to be raised in a perfect society with no corruption. Concentrated on town life and industries, they made a living off of fishing, whaling and shipbuilding. Whale oil was key because it made their lamps.

In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke introduces many innovative ideas, such as the government’s role in protecting its citizens’ natural rights, consent of the governed, and the right of the people to overthrow a government that did not properly protect their rights, all of which played an important role in the development of the French and American Revolutions. In the Second Treatise, one of the main ideas articulated by Locke is that a government is formed in order to protect the people’s natural rights, or as Locke states , “for the mutual preservation” of the people’s “lives, liberties, and estates, which [Locke] call[s] by the general name ‘property’ ” (Locke, p. 37). Locke considers these three rights to be the most valuable

In his Second Treatise of Government, Locke revealed his interests in new science, developing theories of education and knowledge (SMW, 34). One of the main points in his Treatise is that of the law of nature, where all men are in natural state of perfect freedom (SMW, 34). Locke argues, “Men being…by nature all free, equal, and independent,

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are infamous philosophers that shaped modern political theory, philosophy, ethics, etc. This essay seeks to analyze the differences and similarities between the states of nature each philosopher believes to exist. In this context, the term “state of nature” will mean the natural state of human relations without political or societal applications. It will be extremely important to keep in mind that “state of nature refers not to a specific place or time, but to a certain sort of relationship between individuals,” in order to better understand what is meant by Hobbes and Locke . This is the answer to the common question of “when did the state of nature exist in history?”

John Locke was an English Philosopher whose belief on government and the people challenged the long-established ways of thinking about society and government, but influenced the founding fathers especially Thomas Jefferson who to put Locke’s ideas into his own document about the foundation of the United States. The Glorious Revolution in England during the late 1600s that John Locke witnessed, compelled him to write the Two Treatise of Government, integrating his beliefs that “the state of nature has the law of nature to govern it … all men are equal” in his work of political philosophy (Locke 1). Locke suggests that humans are not inferior to each other even though Absolutism was the traditional way of ruling. He believed that the human government should not be based off of divine right, but should be based off of human nature.

Locke's most important and influential political writings are contained in his Two Treatises on Government. The first treatise is concerned almost exclusively with refuting the argument that political authority was derived from religious authority. The second treatise contains Locke’s own constructive view of the aims and justification for civil government. According to Locke, the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one's life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others. This does not mean, however, that it is a state of license: one is not free to do anything at all one pleases, or even anything that one judges to be in one’s interest.

There have been great clashes on these rules of property due to their fundamental structure and have created philosophical problems based on the validation of property. These disputes have made the concept of property a concept which is a very contested amongst philosophers such as Aristotle, Hobbes and Locke. Though many other philosophers also have significant opinions on property, the focus of this essay will be on the views of an ancient philosophers against the views of a more modern one. Aristotle will be used to represent the ancient period .He is considered to be above all the other philosophers from the classical (ancient) period which constructed the central understandings of western political thought.

This essay will use primary sources and academic journals to compare Locke's State of Nature with the United States government. Locke believed that in the State of Nature, everyone has perfect equality, and what one may do, all must do. The executive power of the law of nature is distributed equally among everyone. This concept is similar to the democratic principles founded by the United States government. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson writes that "all men are created equal" and have the unalienable rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

With his two huge works the Two Treatises of Government and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding he revolutionized political philosophy and set out to state that we obtain ideas though our experiences in the world. With this paper I will analyze the ideas and philosophies that John Locke presented and discuss them.

John Locke is considered to be the father of liberalism because of his numerous works that addresses the government involvement with the people’s rights and what their role should be. Locke believed that the purpose of the government was to protect natural’s rights, property and liberty.3 Locke argues that the governments exist solely for the well-being of the community, any government that breaks the compact can and should be replaced.3 Locke also continues to say that the rule of the majority as the most practical choice for government. One of Locke’s works is the Second Treatise of Government, which discuss how individuals are under no obligation to obey each other, but are each themselves judge of what the law of nature requires. John

John Locke summarized his interpretation of human nature when he wrote, “The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule” (Locke 1690). Locke uses the words “natural liberty” which we know to be synonymous with “natural right”. Natural rights are rights that everyone is born with. No person or government can deny you of your natural rights. Locke’s ideal government preserved natural rights, such as “life, liberty, and property”.

The state of nature clearly estates, they were born with certain naturals rights. Including in the real world, Locke felt they were a theoretical idea of nature. People couldn’t defend their rights very well. That is why they had to agree upon a contract with the government to protect their own rights. Every single person is equal in the sense that they are born with certain inalienable rights.

In “The Second Treatise of Government” (1690), John Locke ambitiously sets out to prove once and for all, that we must rely on the concept of natural rights theory when examining human nature. Locke’s concept seemed unequivocal until Jeremy Bentham’s “Anarchical Fallacies” (1843) which is a paper directly criticizing the ideas presented in Locke’s “The Second Treatise of Government” (1690). Following careful understanding of above mentioned texts, this paper will eventually argue in favor of the criticism provided by Bentham against Locke’s natural rights theory and provide support for principle of utility, a concept by Bentham and why it is necessary and more valuable then natural rights theory when considering human nature. This paper will also consider the work of John Stuart Mill in “What Utilitarianism Is” (1861), to

Part I Introduction: This paper is going to be about how John Locke has influenced comparative politics and why he is the most significant scholar in comparative politics. My position paper will discuss John Locke and why his Two Treatises of Government is so influential in our political climate today. Without basic private property