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Founder's Toolbox And The Ideals Of John Locke And James Harrington

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The elements of the "Founder's Toolbox" and the ideals of John Locke and James Harrington were some of major intellectual influences that led to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Founders based the structure, participation, and leadership of their government on writings from Harrington and included them in the Constitution. The moral sense from Locke provided a good base for the law of the United States government and was included in the Bill of Rights. These principles helped model the system of government we enjoy today.
The Bill of Rights was partially inspired by the musings of John Locke. When constructing these rights, the Framers understood that "bills of rights challenged kings to remember the Lockean truth that the people had fundamental rights granted by nature, rights that the government could not abrogate" (Fox and Pope 107). Various amendments in the Bill of Rights use Lockean language and support his ideals, such as Amendment V with Locke's ever-famous "life, liberty, or property" (Fox …show more content…

These ideas became the basic structure for the United States government, giving us the three branches (Judicial, Legislative, and Executive) that we rely on today. Harrington wrote: "An equal commonwealth… is a government established upon an equal agrarian… arising into the superstructures or three orders, the Senate debating and proposing, the people resolving, and the magistracy executing, by an equal rotation through the suffrage of the people given by the ballot" (Harrington 53). These principles are described in more thorough detail in Articles I to III in the Constitution, helping to set rules and explain the role of each order. The separation of powers these three branches create was also influenced by Harrington's analogy of dividing a cake perfectly through self-interest. This in turn creates fairness among the branches and ensures a balanced

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Much of the American Government used today comes from fellow philosophers who with their help; helped put our country in order. John Locke proposed that humans are born with natural right laws; Declaration of Independence, Preamble to the United States Constitution, Representative Government (Republic) and Limits

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51, Madison introduces the system of checks and balances to, again, emphasize the balance between political factions, in this case, the branches, in order to protect people’s rights. The government is structured upon the will of people so that it largely depends on people. However, the three branches should remain independent from each other, which is extremely important in order to make sure that no one branch would become too powerful. This is why the legislative branch must be divided into two parts, even though all the delegates there are elected by the people. Not only the federal government is being separated into three branches, there are different levels of government as well, so that powers are distributed among state governments, city governments, and local governments.

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It is understood that John Locke played a key role of influence on Thomas Jefferson. This influence can be seen through Jefferson’s writing on the nation’s founding document. This document is called the Declaration of Independence. John Locke, the English Enlightenment philosopher wrote his Two Treatises of Government to refute the belief that kings ruled by divine right and to support the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (Doc 1). This piece of political philosophy provided many explanations for the people’s rights and obligations to overthrow a corrupt government.

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One of the biggest influences that John Locke had on President Jefferson was, what John Locke dubbed, “Natural Rights,” and what Jefferson called, “Unalienable Rights.” Meaning practically the same thing, these rights were very similar, and it is obvious that Jefferson’s version derives from Locke’s ‘Natural Rights.’ John Locke’s version stated that all peoples shall possess the following rights: Life, Liberty, and Property. In this case, life means, that people people will fight to live and want to survive. Liberty refers to being free, and being able to make one’s own decision.

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During the 18th Century, the Enlightenment was introduced in Europe. This new movement brought about modernization of thinking about government and individualism, and reevaluated previous beliefs. The Enlightenment had many new Philosophers who helped spread their views on government. Philosophers were similar in ideas about the rights of citizens and people’s choice of which government they want, however they differed on the reason government existed and governmental power. Overall, the ideas were a substantial departure from previous ideas about human equality, absolute rulers, and the court system.

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The historical development of the world from 1690 to 1830 wouldn’t be what it was if it weren’t for John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Locke’s Second Treatise not only sparked individualism, but also revolutions, and was a guide to the creations of declarations around the world. Two main revolutions and declarations that Locke’s ideas inspired were the American Revolution and the French Revolution.

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Locke’s ideas from the Two Treatises of Government and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, were based upon the natural rights where power comes from the people. Both of his pieces contributed to revolutions, most importantly the American Revolution as power from monarchies was removed and democracies were created. Allowed for limited government power and all obligations were to the citizens. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding basis was on how the knowledge existence of God, certain moral truths, and laws of logic or mathematics pertained to the natural rights of

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How come no one could ever take over the government? Well, we have the writers of the constitution to thank for this. WIthout the constitution, there would be a tyranny. The constitution was written in 1787. Its main purpose is to give our government a solid direction, and to describe the roles of the three branches in our government: The judicial, legislative, and executive branches.

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The Bill of Rights endorsed in 1791 limited the power of the government in The United States ; granting freedoms of religion, assembly and speech. The founding fathers of the constitution reflected in their writings the theories of relevant philosophers such as John Locke, Rene Descartes and Immanuel Kant. Rene Descartes in his essay entitled “Discourse on Method” questions religion and encourages reason. Descartes argues that nothing is certain and doubts will “avoid precipitation and prejudice in judgements” (378).he comes to the conclusion of “I think, therefore I am” (380) an ideology that persuade other philosophers to think critically and shaped modern philosophy. Consequently, Joh Locke highlights the state of nature in which individuals

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