What Is The Difference Between John Locke And The American Revolution

Prior to the American Revolution, the American colonists were basically the British government’s workers or servants, sort of speak. The British fought the French in the French and Indian War, simply to gain control on the New World and have access to profit. To the British, the colonists were a lower form of class. Therefore, the British only wanted to reap the benefits and the proceeds from the American colonist’s labor. The British did not mind using the colonists’ blood, sweat, and tears to line their own pockets. With all of the taxes and the laws that were set forth on the colonists, by the British, the colonists grew very angry with the British. The colonists stuck together with their most famous phrase, “No taxation without representation”, and stood up against the British. This was the ideology leading up to the American Revolution.

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. John Locke was a classical republican, which was the belief that there was an overall good that is best for all people and that the government should have less power among the people. The liberal republicans had very similar beliefs only they represented more of the individual rights of people. The English Whigs viewed the government as iniquitous and only looking out for themselves without regards the people. John Locke and the English Whig tradition played a very important role in the ideology leading up to the American Revolution, although the revolution took place much later than Locke’s