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How Did John Locke's Influence On American Politics

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As the seventeenth century began, there were many changes yet to come for the world that would shape what it is today. Two political thinkers helped make these changes in the aspect of political thought. Those two thinkers went by the names of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Both of these two men were incredibly smart and knew what they believed. Both of them believed in a centralized government that was chosen by the people so that the people were able to have power also. The two of them felt so strongly about their ideas they shared them with the changing world. Some people were in favor of John Locke and some were in favor of Thomas Hobbes, but neither were right or wrong. Thomas Hobbes was one of the two political thinkers of the seventeenth …show more content…

As Hobbes believed that each person should be controlled by a ruler that has been provided with absolute power, Locke believed in natural rights. The time that John Locke made his beliefs public was an eventful time in England, especially having to deal with politics. During the time of John Locke, he was able to see the Civil War, Interregnum, Restoration, Exclusion Crisis, and the Glorious Revolution. John Locke still managed to make himself known in a time of incredibly important changing in history. Locke was known for holding administrative positions in government and paying a great deal of attention to contemporary debates in political theory. John Locke decided to place his beliefs in a number of political works to be published and read by many. Locke was also well known for his arguments that were in favor of religious tolerance and also for limited government. A political work that Locke published was Two Treatises of Government. The First Treatises covered the fact that the power of Kings ultimately originated in the domination in which God had given to Adam and had then passed down through an unbroken chain. The Second Treatises then offered a different account of the origins of government. Within the Second Treatises Locke states that men in the state of nature are free and equal, and at liberty to do as they may do what they wish. Man may only do what they wish if it is “within the

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