ipl-logo

John Locke Right To Revolt Summary

917 Words4 Pages

The Right to Revolt
John Locke was an English philosopher and Enlightenment thinker who returned to England from exile in Holland in 1688. Locke’s The Second Treatise on Government was published in 1689, the year after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The theory of the social contract and individual rights set forth in the treatise offered justification for the revolution and for King William III’s rule. Locke undermined the legitimacy of absolute monarchy with his theory that the sovereign had contractual obligations to his subjects. Locke wrote that men gave up their natural liberties to governments in order to protect their peace and property. In the state of nature, all men were equal because the Maker, or God, was their one and only master. …show more content…

The government therefore respect the subjects’ right to their property above all. Taxation without the approval of the majority was equal to the government taking property without consent, breaking the contract that it had with the subjects to protect property. Thus, taxation must be approved by the people or their representatives. In England, these representatives formed Parliament. The executive must also respect the legislative, so that sovereigns could not issue edicts that were not sanctioned by the legislative, and all laws had to be imposed through a fair court system that applied them equally to people of all classes. These laws had to be designed for the good of the majority, and the power given to the legislative or executive to make and enforce the laws could not be transferred. Locke argued that an absolute monarch could not rule society because the interests of the monarch did not align with those of the majority. Whereas representatives would eventually join the population and be bound by the same laws and circumstances, monarchs could enrich themselves indefinitely without regard to the majority. In the case of tyrants who overstepped the bounds of the power given to them by the law for their own gains, subjects had the right to take back the power they gave to the sovereign. Those who sought to rule absolutely were violating a fundamental law of nature, as only God had absolute and arbitrary power over men. The society, made up of the subjects who had entered into contract with each other, would then dissolve the government and establish a new one. The dissolution of government would not give individuals power over themselves again, but would give the society and therefore the majority the ability to select new government to

Show More
Related

How Did John Locke Preserve The Federal Government

890 Words | 4 Pages

Locke states that they must “give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature”. This is for the intention of better preserving himself. Locke favored representative government, where citizens are permitted to vote and elect members to represent the public in government. 3.

Read More

Hobbes Declaration Of Independence Analysis

806 Words | 4 Pages

“That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” (Jefferson 120). This man believed the same as hobbes, that there needed to be something to control and regulate what was needed for a population to live

Read More

Scientific Revolution DBQ

1225 Words | 5 Pages

When the thirteen colonies fought to gain their independence from Great Britain, he used John Locke’s ideas to justify the war. (Pg. 641) Not only did Thomas Jefferson use Locke’s idea to justify the American Revolution, he also included it in the Declaration of Independence, which was written in July of 1776. The only difference is that Thomas Jefferson, instead of property, he used “pursuit of happiness”. John Locke did not only believe in a men’s natural rights, he also believed that it was the government’s duty to protect these rights, and that it’s power comes from the people.

Read More

Locke Vs Hobbes Dbq

559 Words | 3 Pages

(Document 10) One of Locke’s primary beliefs was the people’s right to revolt against oppressive government. Some of the greatest nations rose from a revolution including the United States and France. These revolutions led to greater and stronger

Read More

Impact Of John Locke On Political Philosophies

785 Words | 4 Pages

As teens rebel against their mothers, so to did America rebel against the British during the 18th Century. However, also like children they followed their mother’s footsteps. Oliver Cromwell led a revolt against the Staurt monarchy and similarly colonists revolted against the British. During this time, an English philosopher named John Locke wrote works on political philosophies, mainly against the Stuarts. John Locke would have believed that the American colonists justified their resentments against the British especially, since the British stole their fundamental rights of liberty, property, and life.

Read More

American Revolution Dbq Essay

1245 Words | 5 Pages

Notable figures involved with the Revolution harbored the concepts of the philosophes and instilled thoughts of liberation into the colonies. John Locke, an English philosopher, reflected on these ideals in Two Treatises on Government writing, “…whenever government tries to take away and destroy the property of the people or reduce the people to slavery, it puts itself in a state of war with the people,” (Document 1). Locke promoted individual thinking in the government that would later set the foundation of modern democracy in America. He did not favor the way government prevented popular sovereignty and believed that doing so would only lead to unrest with the general public, which was the case with Britain’s relationship with the colonists. Another figure originally from England, Thomas Paine, strived to convince Americans to separate from British oppression in The American Crisis.

Read More

How Did Thomas Paine Influence The Declaration Of Independence

1427 Words | 6 Pages

This is parallel to the colonies’ situation. Britain was putting unfair taxes and measures on the colonists, so it was their right and duty to overthrow the current system of government and create their own according to Locke. Even though John Locke’s ideology was one justification for the American Revolution, he was not the only historic philosopher to have influence on the Declaration of

Read More

How Does Thomas Hobbes Influence On The Declaration Of Independence

488 Words | 2 Pages

Locke stated that people were born with natural rights, the right to life, liberty, and property. One of the most famous quotes from the Declaration of Independence states those rights as, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Thomas Jefferson, the writer of that quote got his idea from John Locke. Another grand idea modified from one of Locke’s, was the people’s power to overthrow the government- in a legal way of course. John Locke, according to ushistory.org, stated that citizens could overthrow their government if it failed to protect their three natural rights.

Read More

John Locke's Second Treatise Of Government

1385 Words | 6 Pages

The rights he thought were inalienable was the right to life, liberty and property, he choose property because he thought if you have your own land you can make their own happiness,Later Thomas Jefferson turned it into Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those are the rights he thought you do not have to give up to the government because those are your rights as a citizen. People have noted that phrases from Locke’s Second Treatise of Government was found in the Declaration of INdependence. Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet that stated reasons why they should break away from the British rule and since the Declaration was a list of reasons why the New World should break away from Great Britain, it helped establish the Declaration of

Read More

How Did The Enlightenment Influence The American Government

135 Words | 1 Pages

John Locke had the idea that if the government was unfit to rule and not protecting the rights of the people, then the citizens had the right to overthrow the government. This is shown in America when Americans wrote the Declaration of

Read More

Mercantilism In The Colonies

870 Words | 4 Pages

One Enlightenment thinker John Locke wrote Two Treatises on Government in 1690 which explained the right of the governed to overthrow their government if it denies them their unalienable rights. Revolutionary leaders followed this line of thought and used Locke’s theory of natural rights, life liberty and property, to justify their rebellion. During the time of Salutary Neglect colonies formed their own representative governments, which served under Parliament and applied colonial taxes. The colonists had no problem with taxes they just wanted their representative bodies to applied them, not Parliament with its virtual representation, During the dawn of the Revolution in 1776 Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense which spread republican ideals throughout the colones. This document, which sold 100,000 copies in 3 months quickly spread amongst the colonists and solidified their common political motivations.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of The American Revolution

1305 Words | 6 Pages

John Locke was a key figure in the Enlightenment (which was at its peak at the time of the revolution), who stated that the government’s duty was to secure the rights of the people with the consent of the governed. If the government fails to do its duty, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to create a new one. Essentially, this was what the American Declaration of Independence revolved around; it calls out King George III on his acts that violates their values of equality and their unalienable rights and declares the independence of the thirteen

Read More

Declaration Of Independence Justified Essay

852 Words | 4 Pages

The colonists had asked the king for the same political rights as people in Britain, but were refused. This broke the social contract that the philosopher Rousseau talked about. By having the contract broken, the colonists were justified in rebelling against their government. In July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and was firmly based on John Locke’s ideas of the Enlightenment. He talked about how everyone had basic rights that are to be protected.

Read More

How Does Baron De Montesquieu Use Separation Of Power In A Government

295 Words | 2 Pages

John Locke thought that it is the citizen 's right to overthrow the government. Just like how the Colonists overthrew the king of England, and made a new government. The colonists of North America in the 1700s were getting

Read More

Similarities Between Plato And John Locke

1333 Words | 6 Pages

Only those who are born with true philosophical understanding can rule. In the Second Treatise by John Locke, Locke addresses the state of nature, which is essentially equality and freedom. Even though people have liberty, they still need to obey natural laws. On the contrary of Plato’s just city, Locke believes that absolute authority is not a civil government. A civil society is where the majority rules.

Read More

More about John Locke Right To Revolt Summary

Related Topics

Open Document