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 Roman lawyer Cicero also utilised the concept of natural law. He reinforced Aristotle’s point on which natural law can be applied to all, “it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting… one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times”. There are a number of key principles associated with natural law. Aquinas summed up God’s overall purpose for human life as to live, reproduce, learn, have an ordered society and worship God. These are referred to as the primary precepts.
John Locke is greatly influencing philosopher in the history. His arguments regarding human being play a key role in triggering Enlightenment movement in western societies. His assets that God gave human the intellectual and rational, thus, Locke claims that each human being is precious value. John Locke argues “Natural Law”, “State of War’ and “Social Contract”. Natural Law means that all human being has three natural rights which are “life, liberty and estates” which are sum up with property.
Even though the names and roles of the political parties were changed throughout time, they still divided and created turmoil because of the competition between them. This issue was foreseen by the first president George Washington. He even warned about it by writing it in his Farewell Address to America (cite) yet despite of his warning they instead continue with the political parties. Those parties became the Republican Party in the North and the Democratic Party in the South. There were many differences between the two and each difference created more and more tension until they reached the breaking point of war.
Because the British government was not fulfilling Jefferson’s previously mentioned definition of a government’s duties; they were forced to take the very necessary step of removing themselves from the King’s rule and ruling themselves. In what has become one of the most identifiable phrases in political theory, Jefferson declares certain truths to be “self-evident”. These truths that all men are created equal and that men are endowed with certain unalienable rights became increasingly integral to the cause championed by Jefferson and the other creators of the
Hamilton created his Federalist party to help promote his goals for the United States. Jefferson’s opposition party, the Republicans, “opposed Hamilton's urban, financial, industrial goals for the United States, and his promotion of extensive trade and friendly relations with Britain.” Their interpretation of the Constitution also was very different. Hamilton interpreted it very loosely and used the elastic clause to get what he wanted out of it, while Jefferson read and followed if very strictly. This is a reason Jefferson was against Hamilton’s plans. Thomas Jefferson didn’t like the idea of building a National Bank in the United States.
Similarly, when the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written, the Declaration of Independence served as the charter or the purpose document, and the U.S. Constitution served as the bylaw, or the organizational document. The Constitution “serves” the principles in the Declaration of Independence. Now that you have some background knowledge of these two documents, we can talk about the similarities between them. In the Declaration, we have these very famous words: “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”(Declaration of Independence).’’ So here in the Declaration we have a statement of core principals and beliefs. Then the Constitution in turn serves that role as in organizational document and has this statement in the beginning: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
Baron de Montesquieu’s idea on nature of government were that all men were made upon equal rights. Baron de Montesquieu believed that all man were trusted to govern. The Enlightenment thinkers which were Abigail Adams, John Locke, and Baron de Montesquieu all said that their idea on nature or government would have to protect the people’s natural and equal rights. All enlightenment thinkers thought that
The eternal law infers Gods rationing of the universe whilst the divine law is based on Biblical and Church teachings. Central to the theory is natural law, a source of fulfilment on earth and the ‘heart of all gentiles’ (St Paul). From this, human law was devised, which governs daily behaviour and acts as an extension of natural law to be exercised by the state. The four cardinal virtues are a further key feature and
John Locke, who is often credited as the father of human rights and liberalism, maintained that humans were free and equal, and that the ideal society was based on a social contract between the humans and those who governed. He basically employed the concept of natural rights and the social contract to argue that the rule of law should replace absolutism in government, that rulers were subject to the consent of the governed and that individuals had an essential right to life, liberty and property. As we mentioned in class, Thomas Hobbes was the one who started the theory of social contract and developed it elaborately arguing for unlimited authority in a ruler. The intellectual journey of liberalism kept going beyond John Locke with the Enlightenment, a period in the 18th century that shows intellectual penetration that questioned old traditions and influenced monarchies. Some other documents asserting individual rights include 1689 the English Bill of Rights, 1789 the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen and 1791 the US Constitution and Bill of Rights that all are written precursors to today’s human rights documents.