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John Locke's Beliefs On Law

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John Locke was a physician and a philosopher in the 17th and early 18th century. He is considered one of the fathers of classical liberalism and has composed some of the most influential political philosophy ever written. Locke was born to a puritan couple in the town of Wrington, Somerset, England. His father, who was also named John Locke, was a country lawyer. Locke was given an exceptional education due to his father’s well built network within the English government. As a student, he had an avid interest in logic, metaphysics, and medicine. Locke had earned a bachelor’s degree in medicine in 1674. He later pursued a career in the same field and became the personal physician of Earl Shaftsbury. Locke’s thoughts on politics were heavily …show more content…

Locke was a believer in constitutionalism and he opposed the concept of absolutism. He would not be pleased if the government had tremendous amounts of power and legal authority. Rather, he believed that the power of the government to interfere with legal enforcement should be limited as humans would by natural instinct, do good for each other. He believed in the concept of tabula rasa or blank slate to describe that humans are born into the world innocent of all things wrong and evil. The state of nature, devoid of codified laws, as described by Locke was not one of evil, torment, and cutthroat survival; rather it was a state in which humans would follow the natural law of reason that would prevent them from bringing harm upon the life, liberty, and property of their fellow humans. This was his idea of the social contract. The right to life, liberty and property was a major advancement found in law and is still used today within our own Charter as Section 7. Although Locke did not want an all powerful government, he believed in the necessity of government interference when it came to protecting the citizens since he believed that when the state of nature was broken, humans would fall into a state of war until the problem that started the state of war was rectified and to that end humans must have some form of

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He also imprisoned anyone he wanted without doing trials and controlled people’s right to speak. None of these restrictions were close to Locke’s meaning of a government. Locke defended that a government should protect the rights of the people because every man have rights to life, liberty, and property. He then stated that if a government fail to do so, it can be revolted

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He believed a government is based on the consent of the governed. The Constitution states that the government is “by the people, for the people”. This directly aligns with what John Locke believed. John Locke believed in individual liberties. The Bill of Rights directly lists out what liberties and rights citizens would have.

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He believed that people were born with reason and in with that came common interests and peace, but he also knew that people would need something to act as a third party in natural brawls. He supported a government that would take action when needed but other-wise stay at bay. When this government made appearance at times in need of control the people would willingly consent to a social contract, which was the notion of at times for the good of the people losing some freedoms. With this government, and its powers came the important opportunity for the people to discard the representatives that they felt were not governing for the people. Locke knew that man was easily influence by self-interest, and if man governed man that wouldn’t it be only natural for government to become a self-interested tool for its own consumption of power and benefits; Madison’s theories constantly worried of a central government that would obtain too much power.

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Locke believed that the government was to protect the people’s natural rights. On the people’s behalf they must follow the laws of the land. The Declaration of Independence says “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive …, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it…” Locke states, “…that he who attempts to get another man into his absolute power, does thereby put himself into a state of war with him...” and create a new political system.

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Locke was most well-known for his views on citizen’s rights and a limited government. Locke believed that all people had what he called “natural rights.” To Locke, natural rights would include a person’s life, liberty, and property not to be harmed. This ideology was the shaping of the English Whig tradition. The English Whig tradition was based on two forms of republicanism, known as classical republicanism and liberal republicanism.

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John Locke was born in 1632 to Agnes Keene and John Locke. His father was a lawyer and small landowner who had fought on the Parliamentarian side during the English Civil War of the 1640s. Using his wartime connections, he placed his son in the elite Westminster School. While in school John Locke focused his studying on logic, metaphysics, and classics. His study in logic and metaphysics later had a strong impact on his

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Locke helped shape the United States government and many other nations governing systems around the world. Locke believed all men were born with the rights of life or your natural rights of liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and a government should protect and respect the rights of individuals. Under the protection of your government he believed “whom the society hath set over itself, with this express or tacit trust, that it shall be employed for their good, and the preservation of their property: now this power, which every man has in the state of nature, and which he parts with to the society in all such cases where the society can secure him, is to use such means, for the preserving of his own property, as he thinks good, and nature allows him; and to punish the breach of the law of nature in other” (Document C). By introducing natural rights the common people gained more power through an equality between all men. Natural rights gave people the right to possess and protect their own property both physical items and personal ideals.

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Locke was born on the 29th of August, 1632, in a small thatched cottage by the church in Wrington, Somerset, about twelve miles from Bristol. He grew up to be an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers. Locke’s political theory on human nature impacted the government and the nation. He believed that in a natural state all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend their ‘life, liberty, and possessions’. Being born in a small thatched in Wrington, Somerset, Locke’s family soon moved to the market town of Pensford, about seven miles south of Bristol, where he grew up in a rural Tudor house in Belluton.

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Locke’s ideas were used in the Declaration of Independence, explaining why Americans opposed British rule. The king of Britain did not acknowledge the rights of the colonists, and imposed taxes and formed new laws without the agreement from the colonists to do so. John Locke believed that the duty of a government is to protect the natural rights of the people. These natural rights were the rights to life, liberty, and property. If a government failed to protect those rights, the citizens would have the right to overthrow the government.

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He attended Christ Church, Oxford when he was twenty, studying medicine and graduating a bachelor 's degree in medicine in 1656. He practiced medicine for a while and was a personal physician for Caleb Bank. Here he began to get into politics, where then he wrote Two Treatises of Government. Written before its time, Locke’s ideas were composed against absolute monarchies and more focused onto the natural rights of man. Later being added to his works, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, becoming the “Father of Liberalism”.

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After studying for many years, Locke graduated with a bachelor’s degree in medicine. After this graduation, he continued to tutor at Christ Church (Connolly). Locke was very intellectually gifted. Because of this, he was able to write many famous

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John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people.

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Locke is a founder of the Common Sense pamphlet. He believed in government ruled by people. “He expressed the radical view that government is morally obliged to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He explained the principle of checks and balances to limit government power. He favored representative government and a rule of law.

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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.

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Introductory Paragraph (description of theory) John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) is a English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism”. Locke got a scholarship to Oxford University where he spent 30 years at Oxford, studying, tutoring, and writing. He wrote influential political science and philosophy. Locke 's famous theory had to do with the Social Contract theory. The Social Contract covers the origin of government and how much authority a state should have over an individual.

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