b. The ideas of American philosopher, John Locke, greatly influenced the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Locke believed that it was the responsibility go the…
Following the British victory in the French and Indian War, the ideas of the English philosopher John Locke spread throughout the British North American colonies, instilling upon many colonists the ideas that all people are entitled to certain natural rights and that the role of government is to protect these natural rights. The American movement for independence was the result of many factors, resulting in a large rift between the thoughts of Britain and the American colonies. Britain felt as it was entitled to use resources in the American colonies and that colonists were obligated to pay their share of debts accumulated in the French and Indian War. However, British efforts to assert control over the colonies left many colonists feeling…
The foundation of the United States government was squarely based on the European enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. More specifically, the Foundation of this government based its formation on the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, English Bill of Rights, and Locke’s theories on political philosophy. The American Founding Fathers were well educated and therefore well versed in the writings of the philosophies defines and explained in the Magna Carta and by Locke’s theories on the formation and shaping of a new state. Ironically, the English texts of the 13th and the 17th centuries, more specifically the Magna Carta and the Locke’s political philosophical theories, were the basis used by the Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson in creating their new government. The philosophical political enlightenments based such a formation on equality, liberty, and democracy through a new form of justice.…
Another similar enlightenment thinker who shared similar thoughts to his was John Locke. Regarded by many as the founding father of classical liberalism, Locke was among the enlightenment thinkers who influenced ideologies in the 16th and 17th centuries. Jefferson himself once mentioned in his books that Locke is one of the greatest men to ever live that had profound influence in the moral and physical sciences. It also seems like Jefferson was influenced greatly by the works and philosophies of Locke owing to the fact that most of his religious beliefs were based on Locke’s ideologies (Jefferson, pg.…
Many ideas in the Declaration of Independence were derived from the work of John Locke. John Locke was a 17th century writer who made many important contributions to modern political philosophy. He wrote the Second Treatise of Civil Government, a book that reflected Locke’s ideas of the State of Nature and how government should be run. Thomas Jefferson was an 18th century American politician and writer who drafted the Declaration of Independence. John Locke’s views formed the philosophical basis of the Declaration of Independence because John Locke’s views brought up the idea of inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property and that the social contract is impermanent.…
he founding fathers immerged from the British Colonists to become pillars in American history. The revolutionary leaders were immersed with knowledge of educational writings from scholars such as, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, among many more. The knowledge had an immense impact, on the foundations, principles and rights, the revolutionary leaders fought so passionately to establish.…
In the midst of the Enlightenment Age, a time when philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke were forming new ideas of society and government, a war had started between Britain and its American colonies. The colonists claimed their government was failing to provide for its citizens, sharing Locke’s views of the natural rights of men that a government was meant to…
In This essay I will be explaining Locke's point of view on the influence he had on the Declaration of independence.…
pretty much all Thomas Jefferson wanted was for the government to use their power wisely and protect the people instead of wasting It on dumb stuff.…
Thomas Jefferson may have written the Declaration of Independence, but he could not have accomplished such a feat without the help of Thomas Paine and John Locke. Both Locke and Paine were some of the most influential men in the early years of American history. Paine wrote Common Sense, a pamphlet that challenged the rule of the American colonies by England. Locke wrote “Two Treatises of Government.” The second treatise was the most influential to the Declaration and it is focused on the Theory of Civil Society. These are the men that gave early American colonists the drive to independence and made America what it is today.…
Our Earth has been the home to a multitude of great thinkers. These thinkers were scattered throughout the generations from the Romans all the way to the 20th century; however, the time period with the most philosophers was the Enlightenment Age. During this time there were many thinkers such as Voltaire and Thomas Hobbes. One thinker in particular who contributed a great deal to history was John Locke. His work is still influencing the lives of people across the world 300 years later. He rethought the moral role of government, created a new theory of knowledge, introduced the use of reason, and reminded people of their natural rights. The combination of these four things made him the single most influential philosopher…
From around 1650 to the late 1700’s, the Age of Enlightenment dominated philosophical thought in Europe and led to revolutionary change in the structure of government and way of thought. The intellectual and cultural movement provided a new way of thought that was based on reason, progress and the scientific method. Certain thinkers and writers believed they were more enlightened than others and strived to create a more successful idea of how society should be run. They believed that human reason could be used to fight ignorance, tired rituals, corrupt traditions and tyranny. They valued reason, progress, and liberty. John Locke (1632-1704), an English philosopher, was one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment and has left…
John Locke was a political figure and well known for his studies in medicine. Locke also was well educated in medicine. He was a key advocate of the observed approaches of the Scientific Revolution. During his final years John Locke wrote and published all of his most significant works. One of them was his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” in which he advanced a theory of the self as a blank page, with knowledge and identity arising only from accumulated experiences. Locke made a perfect example: “Rejecting the divine right of kings, that societies form governments by mutual (and, in later generations, tacit) agreement. Thus, when a king loses the consent of the governed, a society may remove him—an approach quoted almost verbatim in Thomas Jefferson’s 1776 Declaration of Independence.” In the end Locke came up with a final answer from all of his studies that explained his work. Locke said “A child is a blank slate that is formed through experience.”2…
Although Thomas Jefferson did not directly appear in the time during the Enlightenment, many ideas influenced him and affected his views. Thomas Jefferson believed in the central idea of reason and he actually thought that through reason, an improved society could be built for man. Thomas Jefferson could be described as a man of the Enlightenment easily just by being classically educated and trained in the humanities, not to mention, practical and empirical. During these times Thomas Jefferson’s was probably different to many, but normal too few. A lot of people didn’t jus all of a second accept and become interested in the Enlightenment, but Thomas Jefferson and a select few followed along in his beliefs. Also, the main people who influenced him were Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke. He even went as far as to say that those three, “were my trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced."…
John Locke and his ideas about philosophy was a major influence on the American political system, not to mention many other political systems, too. His ideas were very universal, especially those regarding rights and freedom, two topics for which the United States of America is best known. Locke claimed that “there is a law of nature governing human beings and that it is knowable by human reason.” This law of nature is the basis of American politics, one by which we all live by today. This law included the idea that all human beings are equal, “possessing the same natural rights of life, liberty, and property...” and that all human beings have the “same obligation not to infringe on the rights of other.” Most of laws and justifications Americans…