John Locke

2 Pages 604 Words

“No man should take away the life, liberty, or property of another,” those were the most famous words of the illustrious English philosopher, John Locke. The year was 1689, and John Locke had already published one of the greatest essays ever to be written on government called An Essay Concerning Human Understand. This eminent document may truly have been the basis of the United States government. He wrote two treatises during this period of time, calling his masterpieces, John Locke’s First Treatise of Civil Government and John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government.
These illustrious documents contained the world renowned “natural rights,” which were defined in five general statements. The statements consisted of, all men are created equal, everyone that is living is born with natural rights, governments are conceived through the consent of the governed, the real purpose of government is to protect these rights, and finally if the government fails to protect these rights, they can be eradicated or altered. As those ideas reached every corner of the world, the idea of government was forever altered.
John Locke received immense popularity as these ideas circulated because of the social impacts they caused. The citizens of the colonies, or more commonly known as the social class were very much in favor of putting these innovative ideas into action. John Locke’s “natural rights” stated many guaranteed freedoms in various subjects for which the colonists longed for. During this time many people took advantage of the law, but Locke envisioned the citizens of the colonies instituting laws in which both the prosperous and the poor follow. One of Locke’s final views surrounded the issue of taxing; he believed property taxes cannot be inflated without the consent of the public. A major factor that was greatly regarded was the supreme power cannot take away land from any citizen without there concurrence. L...