John Locke Separation Of Power Essay

Life, liberty, and the Pursuit of the Principles
Democracy can sometimes be defined as a government ruled by the people. But one might ask what are some principles, rather than consent of the governed, that make our democracy efficient. Individual rights and checks and balances are additional principles that helped to form the U.S. democracy, and without them democracy could never be the same.
Montesquieu, a European philosopher, developed one of the major principles of democracy, “separation of powers.” The “separation of powers” is the idea that a government should have three branches. He believed that the best governments divide their power among branches to block any branch from gaining absolute power. The idea of “separation of powers”
democracy, but also “individual rights.” John Locke was an intellectual English philosopher who discussed the idea of a “social contract”. In John Locke’s “Social contract”, it discussed that people give up their rights like stealing, killing, and so forth to have the following three rights protected: life, liberty, and property. He argued that it is the government’s duty to protect the citizen’s natural rights, and if the citizens believe that the government is not accomplishing that duty they have a right to overthrow. The social contract that John Locke breathed life into strongly influenced Thomas Jefferson as he wrote America’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, which obviously influenced U.S. heavily, Thomas Jefferson states that everyone shall have unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of independence was clearly influenced by John Locke. Having our Individual rights protected is so important because it permits the citizens of U.S. to live independently, which in the end will create a stronger democracy with the favor of the