John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration discuss the separation of church and state, the rights of the government and citizens, and resistance of unjust governments. Based on these works, Locke would conclude that Davis is in the wrong, because he would find that her actions are unjust, that the court rightfully jailed her, and that her resistance of the government was unlawful. In deciding to support the court’s actions against Davis, Locke would first assert that Davis’s decision to deny same-sex couples marriage licenses was unjust, as she violated rights guaranteed to those couples. In A Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke goes so far as to say “The sum of all we drive at is, that every man may enjoy the same rights that are …show more content…
In A Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke claims that “It is the duty of the civil magistrate... to secure unto all the people in general, and to every one of his subjects in particular, the just possession of [civil interests],” and defines these interest as life, liberty, health, indolency of body, and property (26). Locke identifies the role of the government, and makes it clear that it is tasked with securing the rights of all its citizens. Locke further asserts that the government has the right to punish those who attempt to violate these rights. “No opinions contrary to human society, or to those moral rules which are necessary to the preservation of civil society are to be tolerated by the magistrate” (A Letter Concerning Toleration, 49). Locke believes that the government has the power to punish those whose actions are detrimental to the civil society the government is tasked to preserve. Given that Davis violates citizens’ rights, Locke would assert that her actions harm society, and that it is within the court’s power to punish
Should Kim Davis go to Jail? Kim Davis, a Kentucky County clerk, was jailed due to her lack of issuing licenses to same sex couples. The reason for this being because it goes against her religion. Some say she should be jailed for disobeying the law, while others think she shouldn’t be jailed for following her beliefs.
“Unjust laws exist: Shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them” (Thoreau 945, par.16). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had written about resisting an unjust government in his piece, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In his essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau also discusses the right and responsibility to resist an unjust government. Since King and Thoreau both use current events in their time as examples of injustice, use historical and biblical references, how they can’t wait any longer to make a change, both provide strong arguments on how important it is to stand up against the injustice put upon American people by the government; however, King and Thoreau were inspired to write by different causes
According to famous Enlightenment thinker John Locke, the role of the government is to protect the natural and basic rights of its people in order to maintain peace throughout the country. America’s Founding Fathers constructed the Constitution in order to do so. Nevertheless, their descendents have not been completely successful at following these guidelines. In The Louisiana’s Separate Car Act passed in 1892 required whites and blacks to sit on separate railroads. This act enforced ‘separate but equal’ accommodations.
It’s been over 200 years since the original thirteen colonies of America fought their revolutionary war against Great Britain, in hopes of achieving their independence. We shall be going through a few areas of the Revolution, such as the military, social hierarchy, the role of men and women during the war, the colonists’ values of equality and their social contract response to the British government’s abuses, and we’ll compare these areas to the present day. The American Revolution started around April of 1775, when British redcoats and American militiamen exchanged gunshots in Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. However, that was only the beginning of the fighting; the reasons for the war date from years prior, when resistance from the
Locke's father, additionally named John, was a country Lawyer and right hand to the Justice of the Peace in the Chew Magna,who had served as an issue of cavalry for the Parliamentarian Forces amid the early bit of the English Civil War. His mother was Agnes Keene, passed on while offering conception to him. Both of his guardians were Puritans. Locke was conceived on 29 August 1632, in a modest thatched lodge by the congregation in Wrington, Somerset, around twelve miles from Bristol.and was sanctified through water that same day. Soon after Locke's introduction to the world, the family moved to the business sector town of Pensford, around seven miles south of Bristol, where Locke experienced youth in a rustic Tudor house in Belluton.
Locke had stated that when an executive act for his own benefit, and not to serve the ends of the people. He “degrades himself” and becomes “but a single private person without power,” at which point he no longer has any right to rule over the people. Locke expresses the idea of rebellion against an unjust government. By giving the idea of rebellion, he also reveals that a human’s rights have changed over the years and that a man now has inherent rights. It was because of his declaration that the statement, “give me liberty or give me death,” become popular among the American people.
In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau essay “Civil Disobedience,” both share their opinions on social injustice and civil disobedience. They both believe that people can protest unfair and unjust laws imposed on them in a civil way. In addition, King and Thoreau are challenging the government with their essays, which they wrote after they got sent to jail. For protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama, King spent eleven days in jail; Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Both King and Thoreau’s essays present similar plans for a resolution.
John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people.
Locke's most important and influential political writings are contained in his Two Treatises on Government. The first treatise is concerned almost exclusively with refuting the argument that political authority was derived from religious authority. The second treatise contains Locke’s own constructive view of the aims and justification for civil government. According to Locke, the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one's life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others. This does not mean, however, that it is a state of license: one is not free to do anything at all one pleases, or even anything that one judges to be in one’s interest.
Introduction: While freedom as a concept feels fairly intuitive, nuances in interpretation can change the basis of an argument. John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America do not define liberty in precisely the same way, which in turn guides two different visions in how a government should function. When examining a core concept in an argument, it is important to inquire to whether its treatment is adequate. Is either definition of liberty sufficient, and does either author’s envisioned government adequately address liberty in that system? This paper will argue that Locke’s definition of liberty remains in the literal sphere while Tocqueville’s is more conceptual, but neither Locke’s nor Tocqueville’s
The Founding Fathers rebelled against the British government for good reasons, which led to the American Revolution in 1783. The Founding Fathers were justified in rebelling against the Britain because the government was not protecting the rights of the citizens, taxing the colonists, and forced them to house British soldiers. In 1756 Britain put the first tax on the colonists. This was the Stamp Act, it required colonists to pay taxes on certain items such as newspapers, legal documents, licenses, and even playing cards.
Biography Profile John Locke John Locke was a philosopher who believed that every human learned by experience, and wasn’t born with basic ideas about the universe. He also believed that the power of government came from the people, not the divine rule of a king or God. He thought that every person was born with rights to liberty, property, and life. He thought that people also had a right to revolt against their ruler if they failed to protect those rights. John was born in 1632 in Washington.
He also imprisoned anyone he wanted without doing trials and controlled people’s right to speak. None of these restrictions were close to Locke’s meaning of a government. Locke defended that a government should protect the rights of the people because every man have rights to life, liberty, and property. He then stated that if a government fail to do so, it can be revolted
By explicitly listing the different elements of civil interest, Locke sets relatively clear boundaries for government control. Additionally, Locke places far greater emphasis on the government leader’s responsibility to the people than Mussolini. Locke also states that “God certainly appointed government to restrain the partiality and violence of men” (pg. 86). The leader’s responsibility to the people further indicates Locke’s belief that government should exist to serve the people and to minimize negative human actions. The conflict between the Fascist regime in Fatherland and Locke’s political theory is the involvement government should have with its
Everyone has a perspective of their own about the government whether it be good or bad. Ancient Greek philosopher Plato and English philosopher John Locke both discuss the topic of government in their literatures. In the Republic by Plato, Plato introduces this concept of a just city. In this city, he believes that the older and wisest person(s) should rule as they are very knowledgeable. Everyone is born innately different according to Plato.