How Did John Locke Influence Modern Day America

The Enlightenment Age was a time of great awakening by philosophers who sought to question the beliefs of the catholic and matriarchal society of Europe during the 18th century. Enlightenment philosophers stated that the truth does come from blind faith but from observable facts that can be proved through tests and experiments. The kings of monarchies and the Catholic Church governed with the power that comes from people’s blind faith during the time leading up to the Enlightenment. John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher who advocated for the debilitation of government and the empowerment of one’s rights. The ideas of John Locke enlightened people of the past yet profoundly influenced the modern day America through the ideas presented in
However, Locke encourages the public to revolt against a government that has remained corrupt without any attempt to reform, “…if a long train of abuses, prevarications and artifices all trending the same way…it is not to be wondered, that they should then rouze themselves and endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure them the ends for which government was at first erected…” (Locke). The Declaration of Independence was written by the thirteen colonies of America in 1776 in attempt to end all political relations from Great Britain due to the oppressive monarchy led by King George. The colonists’ emulated John Locke’s idea of rebellion in their decleration , “…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, their duty, to throw off such government…” (Jefferson). Locke believed that a government was corrupt when the federal system neglected the rights of the people, the colonists recognized the disregard of their needs and demanded for their