John Locke is one of the most influential Enlightenment philosophers of the seventeenth century. His philosophical writings of individual rights and role of government to secure these rights were a major influence on the founding fathers of the United States of America. The founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison used many of the tenets of John Locke's philosophy to construct the American political ideology of liberal democracy. John Locke's view of what a civil society and popular sovereignty inspired the founding fathers and the colonists to develop a political and social discourse which fueled the American Revolution. Locke's influence can be seen in documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.
Both also argue that when the laws of man come into conflict with the laws of God, that civil disobedience is not only justified, but is a moral obligation. Both are in the history books as two of Americas most successful revolutionaries. It is clear that Dr. King read Jefferson’s, “Declaration of Independence”, and used it as the model on which he based his arguments in “Letter from a Birmingham jail” on. These two documents are the handbook by which all civil rights leaders and revolutionaries use as the road map justify their call for equal rights upon. Between June 11th, and June 28th, of 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote his manifesto, “The Declaration of Independence” (later enhanced by the eloquent, and skillful, changes that Bengermin Franklin and John Adams made), as a call for the American colonies to break free from English rule.
The function of government in society ought to be only regulating and therefore as simple as possible. Not surprisingly, but nevertheless remarkable was his call for the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 is influential. Another sign of his great influence is the number of loyalist reactions to Common Sense. In his pamphlet Common Sense what type of language did he use? Firstly the pamphlet the Common Sense was a literary nonfiction persuasive essay, in the pamphlet Common sense he used lots of figurative language and rhetorical devices such as simile which means a figure of speech where two unlike things are compared using the word "like" or "as" followed by a figurative example, metaphors which means is a word or phrase used to compare two unlike objects, ideas, thoughts or
Issue 7: Was the Constitution of the United States Written to Protect the Economic Interests of the Upper Classes? According to radical historian Howard Zinn, the Founding Fathers were an elite group of northern money interests and southern slaveholders who used Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts as a pretext to create a strong central government, which protected the property rights of the rich to the exclusion of slaves, Indians, and non-property-holding whites. Zinn uses an excerpt from historian George Bancroft to explain his reasoning. Bancroft basically said that the Constitution left out individuals and favored certain classes. Zinn also uses an excerpt from historian Charles Beard to explain his reasoning.
All men have the right to be free and by forming a social contract, a nation can be brought together. He enforced the idea of a republic and that the people under ruling should have a part of the leadership governing how they live and that if government abused its powers ranging from law to tyranny they should be overthrown. Locke helped form the basis of modern liberalism, we use today. One of Locke’s main ideas was that men were born with a blank slate in a ‘state of nature’, and could distinguish right from wrong. He believed that man inherently had an understanding of goodness.
The Federalists were usually characterized as loose constructionists, which meant they focused more on the intent of the constitution and its framers, and believed that changes were necessary for the development of the nation. Although Republicans and Federalists were characterized as having these particular views towards the enactment of the Constitution, when Jefferson and Madison served as Presidents during the beginning of the 19th century from 1800 to 1817, it was proven that even though they seemed to believe in their own views, in reality when time came, they started changing their beliefs and becoming both strict and loose constructionists for the good of the nation, which was strongly advocated by Henry Clay and his American System. The same would occur for the Federalists, so generally, each side did not accurately characterize itself during the early 19th century and proved each side had its similar interest when interpreting the Constitution. Before Jefferson became President in 1800, The Federalists dominated national politics for the first decade of America’s governmental history because of George Washington and John Adams favoring Federalist views. It was not until the
What were the ideas expressed during the Enlightenment? How did they spread?- A philosophical movement in eighteenth-century Europe that fostered the belief that one could reform society by discovering rational laws that governed social behavior and that were just as scientific as the laws of physics. 3. What were Benjamin Franklin’s achievements?- Some of Benjamin's greatest achievements are later in life when he became a premier statesman. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1750 where his principal duties were voyaging to London to represent the colony before the English parliament.
Task 1 for AGT1 The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 for the purpose of establishing America as an independent nation and to explain the reasons why the colonies were declaring their independence. In it, he states that governments were to be put in place by the governed to uphold the unalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. If the government failed or was destructive to this cause, the governed not only had the right to remove the current government and establish a new one, but a moral duty to do so. Because of the treatment of the colonists, Jefferson saw it necessary to the success of the people that this document be written. Some of the most recognizable and debated statements are found in the Declaration.
It’s important to know about the past lives and how around the 1800’s the United States started expanding. One of the European ideas was John Locke, who was an English philosopher, and one of the Enlightenment thinkers. John Locke influenced Thomas Jefferson and also the Declaration of Independence. He maintained that people had Natural Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property. Locke had a social contract which meant that people chose their own government as long as the government agrees to protect their natural rights.
Liberalism and Socialism Mark Minks Devry University Professor Fuss 6/18/14 Liberalism is a political ideology of 19th century that championed political democracy in the society. This ideology stressed intellectual inquiry, the rule of government by following law, protection of human beings from any arbitrary authority and the autonomy of citizens or individual in the society. Typically, this ideology draws its roots to the religious reformation of 16th century and it owes a lot of its ideals to John Locke and Thomas Hobbes argument that the governed are sovereign and they should not be ruled by an individual who argues that he or she has divine right (Gray, 2005). In 19th century, Adam Smith among other liberalists insisted that the state should not interfere with the societies’ economic life or status. In this respect, the main goal of liberalism is to promote a laissez-faire society and their main goal is preservation of human rights and freedoms.