ipl-logo

How Did Natural Laws Influence Early America

1322 Words6 Pages

The Influence of Natural Law Philosophy on Early America
In 1690, English philosopher and political theorist John Locke published Second Treatise of Government. Within Second Treatise of Government, Locke proposed principles such as natural rights, and the rights and regulations of kings and the government. Almost a century later, this same document sparked America’s founders to rebel against the British Empire. Locke’s natural rights philosophy influenced early American society and its founders- specifically within the ideas of life, liberty, equality, and revolution. In order to understand its influence however, one must contemplate what Locke defined as natural rights.
According to Second Treatise of Government, Locke defines “life, health, …show more content…

One of the most famous lines in all of America’s documents sums up John Locke’s theory of natural laws. “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.” [5] This statement means that God gives us rights, such as life, liberty, and happiness. These rights cannot be taken away and are equally given by God to all men. It is easy for one to notice that this idea proposed in the Declaration is almost identical to Locke’s proposed natural rights philosophy from Second Treatise of Government. However this is not the only part of the Declaration which reflects the idea of natural rights. Jefferson, the composer of the Declaration, speaks into the ideas of life and happiness as a natural right quite often. Specifically, Jefferson discusses how the king “has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people”, therefore Congress, “in support of this Declaration, with a pledge of firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” [6] With these passages, The Americans were actively having their lives and happiness taken away by Britain. Their lives were not respected, nor where they protected as John Locke said men should be. Even after the Boston Massacre where several innocent colonists were killed, British Parliament protected the soldiers, “by a mock Trial, from punishments for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.” [7] Americans did not have healthy lives, and they also did not have liberty. Liberty is “the condition of being free of restraints, especially the ability to act without control or interference by another or by circumstance.” [8] As written

Show More
Related

Founder's Toolbox And The Ideals Of John Locke And James Harrington

562 Words | 3 Pages

The elements of the "Founder's Toolbox" and the ideals of John Locke and James Harrington were some of major intellectual influences that led to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Founders based the structure, participation, and leadership of their government on writings from Harrington and included them in the Constitution. The moral sense from Locke provided a good base for the law of the United States government and was included in the Bill of Rights. These principles helped model the system of government we enjoy today.

Read More

How Did John Locke Influence The Nature Of The American Government

540 Words | 3 Pages

The foundation and nature of the American government has been greatly inspired by political philosophers. Forrest McDonald analyzes the ideas of these philosophers in chapter three of "The American Presidency: An Intellectual History. " Of all the political philosophers, John Locke contributed the most ideas that we're put to use by the framers of the American government. Locke writes the "Two Treatises of Government", which is later studied by the framers and influences their prospective towards the creation of the Constitution. Throughout writing the Constitution, the framers acknowledge significant ideas introduced by John Locke.

Read More

Similarities Between The Giver And Fahrenheit 451

1331 Words | 6 Pages

“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,” Thomas Jefferson once said. Jefferson believed that from the moment anyone was born, they were granted certain undeniable rights as a human being, including the right of freedom. In America, people are lucky to be free to express themselves and choose their own paths in life, but what if all of their rights were suddenly taken away? Try to imagine living in a world where people were no longer free to think for themselves. Imagine a world where being an individual was against the law.

Read More

Miranda Vs Arizona Research Paper

587 Words | 3 Pages

The writers of the Declaration of Independence demonstrate that all men are equally created and are provided with [God-given] rights that cannot be taken away, and those include, the rights to, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. In the preamble, the Declaration of Independence indicates, “… men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights… Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” (“The Declaration of Independence”). John Lock, the philosopher who strongly influenced that segment of the Declaration of Independence argues, how life is, in fact, an inalienable right because God owns us, in other words, we do not own ourselves (James). In society, the unalienable rights can be seen as how we have the right to do anything we want in our lives, but there are rules that are established so that we can remain safe and therefore, they should be followed. The unalienable rights present in the Declaration of Independence are just one of many examples that express democratic ideas important to American

Read More

How Did John Locke Influence The Declaration Of Independence

755 Words | 4 Pages

Without them he would not soon have been recognized by Voltaire as, along with Newton. ”(2) These to great minds showed the great influence not only made on American, but also the world. John Locke’s idea of Natural Law is one the major ideas behind the founding fathers driving efforts to start the Revolutionary War. The idea that man has a choice in what he choices to do with his life without the influence of government or in there case a monarch.

Read More

How Did John Locke Influence The Declaration Of Independence

835 Words | 4 Pages

One of the biggest influences that John Locke had on President Jefferson was, what John Locke dubbed, “Natural Rights,” and what Jefferson called, “Unalienable Rights.” Meaning practically the same thing, these rights were very similar, and it is obvious that Jefferson’s version derives from Locke’s ‘Natural Rights.’ John Locke’s version stated that all peoples shall possess the following rights: Life, Liberty, and Property. In this case, life means, that people people will fight to live and want to survive. Liberty refers to being free, and being able to make one’s own decision.

Read More

How Did The Enlightenment Impact The American Revolution

1294 Words | 6 Pages

The American revolutionaries had a high degree of familiarity with the enlightened ideas that spread to England, which in turn prompted the revolutionaries to see great value in maintaining and protecting their very rights and freedoms that were promoted in the Enlightenment. Perhaps one of the most obvious influences come from John Locke, and his writings can easily be used to aid arguments on behave of liberty, property, and order. John Adams, a founding father and second President of the United States, used the ideas of Locke to shape his “doctrine of justified resistance” in his revolutionary efforts. Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson had a strong reaction against the “many unwarrantable encroachments and usurpations, attempted to be made by the legislature of one part of the empire, upon those rights which God and the laws have given equally and independently to all.” In the initial draft of the Declaration of Independence (June 1776), Jefferson echoes and rephrases the familiar sacred trinity of “life, liberty, and property” from Locke’s Two Treatises of Government: “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Read More

John Locke's Second Treatise Of Government

778 Words | 4 Pages

In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke introduces many innovative ideas, such as the government’s role in protecting its citizens’ natural rights, consent of the governed, and the right of the people to overthrow a government that did not properly protect their rights, all of which played an important role in the development of the French and American Revolutions. In the Second Treatise, one of the main ideas articulated by Locke is that a government is formed in order to protect the people’s natural rights, or as Locke states , “for the mutual preservation” of the people’s “lives, liberties, and estates, which [Locke] call[s] by the general name ‘property’ ” (Locke, p. 37). Locke considers these three rights to be the most valuable

Read More

Declaration Of Independence: No Longer Or Abolish The Government

657 Words | 3 Pages

¨… endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, ¨ the Declaration of Independence states, ¨that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.¨ This ideal is stating that all men are born with rights that cannot be taken away, not even by the government. The government must respect these rights. Britain did not acknowledge nor respect that the colonists had these rights.

Read More

Declaration Of Independence Research Paper

1380 Words | 6 Pages

However, accusations cause immigrants to be more cautious about traveling. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the basic natural rights written in the Declaration of Independence. In the historical document, it is written, “...that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This excerpt states that we were given natural rights by the one who created us, God. However, in today’s world Americans may be limited from living this principle.

Read More

How Important Are America's Gifts To My Generation

378 Words | 2 Pages

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the words that still shape America today, “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.” These three rights are essential to my life, and America would not be the same without them. For over 240 years, previous Americans have fought so my generation can have these rights. I believe that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are America’s gifts to my generation. Life is a gift bestowed upon us by God and protected by American law.

Read More

John Locke's Concept Of Justice

1751 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More

Locke Vs Tocqueville Analysis

1084 Words | 5 Pages

Locke’s definition of liberty depends on whether the person is in the state of nature, in which people are “without subordination or subjection” (Locke 101) or if they have formed into a commonwealth, or whenever “any number of men are so united into one society, as to quit every one his executive power of the law of nature, and resign it to the public” (Locke 137-38). In the Lockean state of nature, men have a “freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons” (Locke 101). This freedom is still limited by what Locke refers to as the law of nature, or that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” (Locke 102). He also defines the liberty of the state of nature as “not to be under any will or legislative authority of man” (Locke 109). In his form of commonwealth, there is more limited freedom, in which liberty is to “be under no legislative power, but that established, by the consent of the commonwealth” (Locke 110).

Read More

John Locke Research Paper

428 Words | 2 Pages

Locke’s Theory believed in Natural Rights, rights that are

Read More

The Philosopher John Locke: What It Means To Be Human

316 Words | 2 Pages

Through life, liberty, and property, humans are superior to other animals. Such natural rights makes up what it means to be human. The Philosopher John Locke developed the natural rights of life, liberty, and property to explain why humans are higher than animals. Locke defines life as a condition that distinguishes animals and plants from other matter. With many other matters on Earth it is important that locke separated plants animals from the air and pollution.

Read More

More about How Did Natural Laws Influence Early America

Related Topics

Open Document