Liberty In John Winthrop's Little Speech On Liberty

The Mayflower compact, and John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government helped establish the principles of freedom, independence, and natural rights that were used to shape the ideas on which our founders created the Declaration of Indepence. The Mayflower compact was important because it was the idea that people had the right to determine the form of government in which they wanted to be governed (Nobles 1215). This concept was important because it was based on biblical principles that they got their rights from God, not from a king, government, or ruling elite (Nobles 1215). John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government was important because it helped create civil societies in which people would give up order to receive protection and security from their government(Locke 1690). This was important because it created a peaceful living and order, but also the people still had the right to overthrow their government if they felt they were not representing the people anymore and abusing power(Locke 1690). The Mayflower Compact and John Locke’s ideas helped our founders shape the U.S to create a better future, and set forth a foundation in which future principles could branch from.

Usually, rights for people were written by the government, such as the rights of Englishmen, but the idea of the government protecting rights that were already endowed to humans was supported by American colonists who were against the idea of the numerous violations of the Rights of Englishmen, which included taxation without consent. These taxes later popularized the famous slogan, “no taxation without representation,” first said by James Otis; most colonists believed that

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. Property means that people shall own land, food, or any tool that can aid them in

Have you ever thought to yourself, where did the Constitution come from? Someone surely had to inspire the people who wrote it? You’re right and I’m going to talk about 3 of some of the most important documents that influenced the Constitution. Starting with the Rights of Citizenship in the Constitution because we got to know how the Constitution affects us and why we care about it. The Constitution gives us rights that nobody can take away from us. Starting with the very first amendment granting us freedom of speech. The first 10 were in the Bill of rights written way back in 1791 giving us in detail 10 rights as a citizen. With 27 amendments now (the most recent added in 1992) we have a lot of rights as Americans. Some of these rights were gained through tradition and time. The woman’s right to vote was added to the amendments to give women equal rights. As Americans, we also have responsibilities, stated in the Constitution. We have the responsibility to vote in the elections. We also have the responsibly to follow all the laws the government makes. Those are some of our rights and responsibilities as Americans. There are many more if you look in the U.S. Constitution. My thesis statement is, American citizenship rights and responsibilities shown in the U.S. Constitution originate from the English

John Winthrop was a puritan who came to America seeking religious liberty. The puritans believed religion should be straight from bible scripture. They encouraged their supporters to read the bible and listen to sermons rather than participate in sacraments. They loathed Catholicism and disliked how England’s churches still utilized catholic rituals. They did not agree with the religious structure where authority passed down from pope, to bishops, and priests. They were Congregationalists who felt each congregation should independently run its own affairs. They puritans believe in seeking salvation as success indicated God’s grace, but God had already determined who was going to be saved. They felt because of their strong urge to bring religion

To establish which amendment in the Bill of Rights is the most influential to the preservation of liberty, one must first determine the true meaning of the word liberty. The Oxford dictionary defines liberty as “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behaviour, or political views.” Not only is this one of the core values ingrained into the base of our American culture, but it is also one of the main characteristics of a successful community (“First Amendment.”) Many societies argue that citizens do not have basic rights, the first amendment does the best job at protecting the nation's rights from the government by giving individuals freedom of speech, religion, and freedom of petition. The First Amendment has five freedoms guaranteed for the American people’s such as the right to religion, speech, and petition. This is arguably the most important amendment to liberty, and a person’s right to free will. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or

Early colonial experiences had a tremendous affect on the founder’s view about rights and limited self-government. Accordingly, Thomas Jefferson explained, “ Every man and every body of men on earth possess the right of self government. Jefferson’s view defined the belief of many of the colonists, that government must be representative of the people.

John Locke, who wrote the Second Treatise on Civil Government of 1690, founded the ethical idea that all men were entitled to their natural rights. Natural rights, from John Locke’s point of view, could be defined as fundamental principles possessed by each man that is set forth by nature itself. The idea of all men being equal in “what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of nature… (Document A)” was a radical thought that shows felt a great need to change the public’s thoughts of inequality to those of equality. It would be reasonable to say, that John Locke was a key influence when creating the government laws of the United States that still stand today; the Declaration of Independence

Freedom has been the center of American ideals since the United States gained independence from Great Britain. To protect these ideals, the Founding Fathers created the Bill of Rights; which contains the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The document grants American citizens their basic rights and freedoms. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press and the right to petition the government without retribution. It directly states:

Liberty was an idea that America was founded upon. When the Constitution was being written, Benjamin Franklin gave a speech explaining why the delegates should sign the Constitution. Franklin admitted to the delegates that the document was not written to the best of its ability, and how he himself had doubts involving some parts. Overall, Franklin believed that this document would be something to protect the liberties of the people and would secure the people 's rights. Government preserves the liberty of citizens by their equality which leads to socialism. Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community

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). Liberty here is actually defined by the majority, as it is not practical to expect total consensus (Locke 161). In Locke’s commonwealth, if consent is given for the majority to legislate, so long as the legislature has “the consent of the majority” (Locke 163), nothing the legislature does could be considered as an unjust limitation of liberty. When examining his concept of liberty in general, it is perhaps more accurate to divide the concept as humans having different liberties, for which the

The concept of liberty is not a constantly evolving term, but rather, as a society people have evolved and changed their personal interpretation of the meaning of liberty. Whereas, the concept of freedom, often referred to as a synonym of liberty, has remained relatively unchanged throughout history. In my opinion, freedom is state of being capable of making decisions without external controls, and liberty is freedom which has been granted to a people by an external power (i.e. the government). The American government grants the people freedom through liberties in the Bill of Rights. Today, more people stress and emphasize the freedom in their personal liberties like the right to free speech, and the right to own a gun. In my opinion, liberty

The Declaration of Independence was written on July 2, 1776, but then approved by congress on July 4th 1776. The Declaration of Independence was written when the 13 colonies were no longer part of the British Empire and were now their own independent states. “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.” For me, the theory of Natural Rights, and equality in a government is a must. Because of natural rights, oppressive taxation, and equality, I have decided that I would sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776 if I were living in that time.

The coat of arms is a way to create and display both the characteristics and importance of a character through the use of symbolism and artistic ability. Much like how personal essays are used to convey some sort of message about oneself, the coat of arms is used as a visual aid to serve the same purpose. The components of the coat of arms are used to represent the most important and influential pieces of a philosopher from the enlightenment, John Locke.