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John Locke's Ideal Form Of Government

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Locke on Property John Locke, philosopher and founder of liberalism employed philosophy and religion to stablish an ideal form of government; which served as the base of the principles used by the Founding Fathers, when creating the Constitution of the United States. Locke asserts that the doctrine of property helps stablish the fundamentals of a systematic and competent government. In the Second Treatise of Government, Locke debates how the preservation of property is the Government’s most eminent function. From this notion, He emphasizes the importance of Political power, describing this as “a right of making laws with the penalties of death, and consequently all less Penalties, for the regulating and Preserving …show more content…

Locke expands on the idea that “No man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to” (Locke, CP14). This emphasizes that every man has a property within his own person, and that labor is the determinant force of property. Even though property is entitled to mankind, the property acquired by one’s work and labor is independent from the consent of mankind. One is the owner of whatever one works to obtain, and of the means he used to obtain it. He then argues that appropriation of goods does not require the consent of the people since one individually works to fulfill one’s needs. Even though one is the owner of one’s work, Locke says that we can appropriate things but if they don’t deplete. As Locke refers to the state of nature, a state where everyone is free and everyone is entitled to everything equally, Locke says that “the Law of Nature gives us property but also bounds it.” This highlight how God Gave land to men to use for their benefit and therefore everyone is entitled to make use of whatever is given to us. This notion goes back to the question posed by Locke on how does one define individual property if property is preserved to all mankind. In answering this theory, to preserve individual property, a governmental authority is needed. As he mentions, “For in government, the laws regulate the right of property, and the possessions of land is determined by positive constitutions”( Locke,CP21) The role of Locke’s property doctrine is a way to emphasize the need for a set of laws that protects man;s property and solves the problem presented

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independent”. According to the state of nature, no man should endanger another man’s life, well-being, freedom, or possessions. Everyone is “obligated by the laws of nature to respect the rights of every man”, according to Locke. 2. It is necessary for man to give up certain liberties under the laws of nature when entering into society.

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The Primary objective of all leaders should be to control citizens. A society that allows authority to be challenged will never succeed. This source depicts an authoritarian or totalitarian view of what a governing body should look like. The author suggests that the primary objective of government should be the “control of the citizens”, and therefore that the individuals should entirely obey said government.

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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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John Locke interpreted that when citizens are given the right to property they are truly given all combinations and locks to keep their values and possessions safe from outside force such as the

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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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The rights of “life, liberty, health, and possessions” are an essential key in having a balanced life. The Two Treatises on Government written by John Locke, influenced most ideas in the Declaration of Independence and The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. This document influenced Enlightenment ideas such as religious toleration, the sovereignty of the people, press freedom, the right to rebel, and no taxation without representation. These documents helped create a better society in the word today.

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Locke’s ideas of enlightenment were influential in the creation of the document. Like Locke’s phrase from Two Treatises on Government, “life, liberty, and property,” Jefferson, however, changed this phrase to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This phrase is slightly altered by Jefferson and exemplifies Locke’s belief in natural rights implying an individual’s own rights. Locke also believed that when a government were to become destructive, the people have the right to rebel and abolish it. A government that does not protect these rights becomes a tyranny and is determined to be overthrown.

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The Enlightenment, also known as the “Age of Reason,” occurred in the eighteenth century and was a period in which ideas concerning God, nature, reason and humanity were combined, and these ideas instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. The Enlightenment was crucial in determining aspects in terms of politics, government, and religion. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Charles Montesquieu influenced the Founding Fathers and their ideas were found in the Declaration of Independence. The most important influence that shaped the founding of the United States came from John Locke, an Englishmen who redefined the nature of government.

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He divided property into two ways, private and common. Locke believes that God is in charge of the world. In chapter v. of property, Locke states, “God, who has given the world to men in common, has also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage in life, and convenience.” Locke used labor to say common is a way to private property. By a man doing labor, he can call property private.

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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’s definition of liberty depends on whether the person is in the state of nature, in which people are “without subordination or subjection” (Locke 101) or if they have formed into a commonwealth, or whenever “any number of men are so united into one society, as to quit every one his executive power of the law of nature, and resign it to the public” (Locke 137-38). In the Lockean state of nature, men have a “freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons” (Locke 101). This freedom is still limited by what Locke refers to as the law of nature, or that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” (Locke 102). He also defines the liberty of the state of nature as “not to be under any will or legislative authority of man” (Locke 109). In his form of commonwealth, there is more limited freedom, in which liberty is to “be under no legislative power, but that established, by the consent of the commonwealth” (Locke 110).

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In this state of nature, money, trade, and regulations are absent. Man then mixes the labor from his body with the work of his hands and obtains private property ( Locke 7 sect. 27). This mix of labor with common resources created Locke’s theory of self-ownership. Locke uses the argument that taking resources out of their natural state, makes them no longer common, but private property (Locke 7 sect. 27).

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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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Moreover, as much as the acquisition of wealth for its own right is in opposition to what constitutes virtue in the Aristotelian society (Politics), this capitalist ideal is found present in the definition of the Lockean good life. Due to the fact that citizenship is the duty to be watchful of the government, and freedom is one of non-interference in the pursuit of a private life, the good life then is adherence to these ideals. Freedom and thus human flourishing, then, are obtained when the individual adheres to the nature of law in regards to being mindful of consumption, whilst securing their own property through the combination of their labor with the land. Under the common wealth they have agreed to, property will be secure. The individual is free to flourish and secure property.

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