John Locke's Second Treatise Of Civil Government

Locke’s Second Treatise, of Civil Government was written shortly after King James II was overthrown by Parliamentarians as a result of the Revolution of 1688. Locke himself witnessed these events and these events urged him to write the Second Treatise. Locke wrote about the role of the government, and how the power should be placed in the hands of the people. Locke created a model government consisting of a civil state in which the people had natural rights and there was an executive power to protect citizens’ property and liberties. However, the government would be created for the people and could be overthrown if the government does not serve the people. For example, if the legislative attempts to take away property of the people or enslave people, the legislative would lose its power to the people. Following this
For example, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This expert is almost identical to Locke’s belief on the natural rights of the citizens. Many credit Jefferson for forging our government, but in reality Jefferson borrowed the ideas of Locke to forge the government. Without Locke’s thinking who knows what our government would be like today. Just to name some other people Locke influenced, Locke influenced Alexander Hamilton in his writing of the Federalist Papers, and James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution”, was greatly influenced by Locke’s belief on natural rights. Right here you see that in reality Locke could be considered the master mind that crafted the basis of our government. This is comparable to a student writing a major essay, the student must learn from the teacher, but the student will get the credit for writing the