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John Locke's Second Practice Of Government

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In The Second Treatise of Government, John Locke examines man’s transition from a state of freedom and equality, to a state of civil government with legislative and executive power. Locke believes that by nature people are free. He believes that people’s natural rights consist of life, liberty and property. He also strongly believes that laws and governing are only necessary where something goes wrong. With this being said, Locke thinks it would be only naturally right that no one man has more power over another. Locke says that, “all men are born in the exact same state, with no one individual having privileges or advantages over another.” Meaning that no one man can be in control of, or enforce rules upon another. Locke strongly thinks that all men are on Earth to preserve mankind, and should not damage the life, liberty, or possessions of another. …show more content…

The act of punishing a man for his crime can benefit the people of the society by making an example of him in order to prevent future crimes. John Locke then decided that this form of government will not always work in favor of the people, and that eventually the natural state will get out of control. He decided that a Civil Government is needed where there is a legislative and executive, to make the laws and to enforce them upon the people. In this type of a government the people must agree to be governed, and cannot be forced into loyalty to the government. A Civil Government revolves around a bond of trust that has been made between the people and its authority. Nonetheless, if this bond is broken then the people have the right to terminate the

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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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Locke’s laws of nature could be split into three parts. First, that all men were

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Locke also wrote, “But though men, when they enter into society, give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature, into the hands of the society, to be so far disposed of by the legislative, as the

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The philosophe, John Locke, believed that individual freedom would create a much better government. Locke argued that are free in a state of nature and that they have the right to preserve that freedom. The easiest way to do that is to create a legislative branch that makes the laws. To also make an executive branch that carries out those laws (Doc A). If the government is failing them, they have the right to prevent that failure.

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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’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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John Locke was a 17th-century philosopher and political thinker who created the basis of republican government and inspired the Founders of the United States, in particular, Thomas Jefferson. In agreeance with Thomas Hobbes’s theory of the origins of government coming into existence due to mankind in the form of social contracts, he argued that since people created government it should thus do what the people demand and protect their rights. This is detailed in his famous work Second Treatise of Civil Government in which he argues that rulers are given power through consent of those governed and thus must protect their human rights, which he believed included life, liberty, and property. If government were to fail in protecting those rights, the people had the right to overthrow the existing government for one which would uphold order and provide and protect those rights. He also argued that government had immense power that could be abused and lead to dangerous outcomes such as controlling those governed.

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In “Two Treatises on Government” Locke stated “MEN being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of his estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.” When Locke wrote this his meaning was that without a government there would be chaos and every man for himself or the so called state of nature. The government to Locke was that whoever signs into this contract will live under peace and civil life, but will not have full freedom because they have to abide by the rules in order to keep a civil life.

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For the past decades in Europe, the most common form of government was a monarchy and all the power was in the hands of either one or a couple people. During the time of the monarchies, the Enlightenment period took place and this was when many philosophers would begin to question the government. An enlightenment thinker during this time who challenged the government and suggested better ones was an England born man by the name of John Locke. Locke was interested in a type of government where power was separated and wanted the principles of government to ensure the liberty of the individual. Locke’s beliefs would change the way that people would think a government should be run, and the people wanted rights and freedom.

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These were subsequently influenced by the writings on John Locke in his work, the Two Treatise of Government. Locke believed before the conception of government man existed within a state of nature. Within this state, man has no master and is governed merely by the law of nature, of which is reason. Therefore, since man has no master within the state of nature, he stands as an equal among his fellow man and is free. This equality was defined by the fact that all men were endowed with the faculty of reason, and the proceeding natural rights that

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John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government is divided into two parts. The first treatise is a critic of Sir Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha, while the second describes the state of nature, an extensive discussion on property, commonwealth, and the right of the people to revolt. The first treatise, which I shall first summarize, criticizes Sir Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha, which argues in support of the divine right of kings. It stands, according to its author, on the following premise: 1.That all government is absolute monarchy, and; 2.That no man is born free.

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John Locke Essay Joseph Gabriel Introduction To Political Theory Dr. Bagchi 20NOV2015 John Locke's most influential political writings can be found within the work entitled Two Treatises on Government. Within the Two Treatises on Government, Locke talks about the state of nature, the law of nature, rights to pursuit life, liberty, and property. John Locke believes that the good life is obtainable by forming a social contract to escape the state of nature. Through this social contract, man would pursuing the good life by establishing a civil society or government in which life, liberty, and property rights are its founding principles.

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John Locke is an enlightened political philosopher whose explanations to his ideas remains profoundly influential. Locke believes people should have the right to do anything they want without the government enforcing them to do a task. In The Second Treatise, Locke discusses some vital concepts of his thinking, beginning with a discussion of the State of Nature. He explains that humans move from a state of nature characterized by perfect freedom and are governed by reason to a civil government in which the authority is vested in a legislative and executive power. In the State of Nature, men are born equal, to have perfect liberty to maintain.

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The State of Nature, although a state wherein there is no civil authority or government to punish people for transgressions against laws, is not a state without morality. To Locke, persons are assumed to be equal to one another in such a state, and therefore equally capable of discovering and being bound by the Law of Nature. The Law of Nature, which is on Locke’s view the basis of all morality, and given to us by God, commands that we not harm others with regards to their life, health, liberty, or possessions. This is because we all belong equally to God, and because we cannot take away that which is rightfully His, we are prohibited from harming one another. So, the State of Nature is a state of liberty where persons are free to pursue their own interests and plans, free from interference, and, because of the Law of Nature and the restrictions that it imposes upon persons, it is relatively peaceful.

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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.

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