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John Locke's Influence On Society

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He believed that everyone is equal, there should be no limited government and that the job government is to protect people from themselves. His views centered the government around the needs of people and not itself. Equality showed that people are no longer subjects but apart of a society as citizens where the government depends on them to efficiently run. John Locke's also believed that everyone was equal, but brought on the notion that humans have the ability to reason and could be trusted. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Catholic King James II was overthrown, Locke supported the Protestant Parliament. Parliament became the major authority in England's government. John Locke made the Two Treatises of Civil Government in 1689 which expressed that all people are born with natural rights such as life, liberty, and property which should be protected by the government. These right cannot be taken away. And in this government, citizens have the right to overthrow its government if it is not doing its job. His idea of government makes people citizen and no longer subjects. Their rights and freedoms were acknowledged. Lockes and Hobbes ideas were very influential and are the bases of many democratic governments today. The revolutions in America and France were inspired by the ideas of John Locke. On July 1776 Thomas Jefferson made the Declaration of independence which said …show more content…

The prominent philosophers who arose during the European Enlightenment, reformed political and social ideas that governed Europe. Which therefore changed how people saw themselves. They were now citizens with rights and the power to make decisions for

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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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John Locke was an extremely intelligent philosopher whose ideas about government and natural rights paved the way for the American Revolution. Locke was born in 1632. In the 1600s, the ideal form of government was monarchy which Locke most definitely opposed. He was a strong believer in representative democracy based off of what the people thought was right. Locke supported something called social construct theory which guaranteed natural rights for all

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He was obviously a huge influence on Thomas Jefferson when writing the Declaration of Independence. In fact, the next line says that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government” (Declaration). This was also an important idea that made up Locke’s philosophy on government. Locke stated that any form of government which started to not function for the benefit of the people was a tyranny. It is the people’s “right to resume their original liberty, and, by the establishment of a new legislative, (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own safety and security” (Locke).

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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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He used many of the ideas and even some of the exact words of John Locke in this work. This Declaration was the foundation of the new nation that was to be called the United States of America. The ideas of Locke were very influential because the frontier of the American colonies must have seemed very much like the state of nature that Western political thinking had described. Some of the early colonists, such as the Pilgrims in 1620, made compacts or contracts with each other. These compacts were much like those in the state of nature described by both Locke and Hobbes.

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America is a country whose ideals are based on freedom and democracy. However these ideas are not original, in fact many of the common ideas found in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence resemble the writings of people in the past. Even early documents pivotal to American independence such as Common Sense by Thomas Paine and the Virginia Declaration of Independence can be traced down to these early documents. The age of enlightenment brought several philosophers with new ideas, such as John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The works of these men helped to inspire a new way of thinking, towards freedom and democracy, the founding fathers embraced these ideas.

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The new rulers of England were now William of Orange and his wife Mary and this conformation was known as a “Glorious Revolution”. However, this leads into two major response with completely different ideas. Thomas Hobbs and John Locke are the two political thinkers that will affect the thoughts of other with their ideas of a good government. Thomas Hobbs believes that absolutism is needed to keep order and peace among the people. This is a valid point because once England got rid of it monarchy the government wasn’t as stable, and therefore they restored if after the death of Cromwell.

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Locke’s justification of revolt, based off of the theory of natural rights, was what gave Thomas Jefferson the background in writing The Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence from the declaration written by John

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In the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson, he included the theory made by John Locke that all people had natural rights. The idea of individualism grew In the 17th century, the natural law doctrines were being modified to strain the fact that an individual is a natural being who have rights that shouldn't be violated by or taken away by anyone. John Locke influenced the idea of self government. Self government is a system in which citizens within a country rule themselves and control their own affairs. John Locke said that monarchs

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Salutary neglect led to Taxation because England needed to pay off their debt so the King issued the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765. The American Revolution created a domino effect because colonist had been the first successful rebellion against a monarch ever and it led to other rebellions and revolutions. John Locke, Voltaire and Montesquieu influenced the American founding documents through their ideas of natural rights, freedom of speech and religion, and through separation of power. John Locke influenced the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence by his ideas of the Natural rights of man. John Locke was the exact opposite of Thomas Hobbes who believed that humans were naturally selfish and wicked and that in exchange for law and order, people must give up some rights , John Locke believed humans are naturally reasonable and he believed humans were born equal and free.

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We The People Unit 1 Question 1 By: Sebastien, Dharen, Torger, Sophie, and Kallie (Sebastien) Many people know about John Locke and his view on government, but he might have had more to say. John Locke was an English philosopher who wrote about natural rights. John Locke believed that a form of government would be beneficial to the United States. This is because he thought the purpose of government is to protect the natural rights of citizens.

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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

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As stated above Locke had a major impact on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution. The declaration addressed the issues that Americans had with the British monarchy. It was informing King George III that they would no longer follow the rules set out by the British. In its simplest form, it was a statement that the colonists wanted to govern themselves.

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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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Locke's idea of natural rights and of the Two Treatises of Government, Voltaire’s idea of religious freedom that infringed on the people's rights and freedoms and set the basis for modern democracy. Along with Smith’s idea of freedom of economics and Wollstonecraft’s ideas on gender equality. John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher and he

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