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Locke's two treatises of civil government
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36). The Framers knew that they need all the help they could get in order to form the country. Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690) distinguish the federative branch from the executive branch but when it comes to foreign affairs both branches are similar because of the use of the prerogative (p.37). Prerogative is a right to a certain individual or group. According to Locke, the executive is only allowed to use the prerogative in case of emergency such as going against the law if it will protect the country or people (p.37). This power indicates that the executive has no limits in times of emergency. Locke believe that the legislative was too slow to decide or could not stop potential devastating situations (p.38). The legislative is a huge branch and that is one of their biggest downfall. Locke’s idea about separating powers resulted in the joining of the executive and the federative (p.38). Locke had a role to play in helping the Framers. …show more content…
Another important person is Baron Montesquieu.
Montesquieu is the intellect that many Federalists and Anti-Federalists referred to in the 1780s (p.39). Locke seems as a role model to Montesquieu because Montesquieu closely followed Locke’s idea in preserving a line between war matters and peace (p.39). Montesquieu is expanding Locke’s idea about foreign affairs. Montesquieu believe that the executive should have total control over the army, when it comes to military affairs (p.40). The executive branch, more specifically the President, is the top leader of the armed forces. Even though the executive according to Montesquieu should have total control over the army, the legislative has the power to fund and terminate military affairs and could terminate an army if it pleases them
(p.40). Here Madison says:
John Locke, one of the leading philosophers of the European Enlightenment was very important when it came to political thought in the United States. His ideas of the reasons, nature, and limits of the government became especially important in the development of the Constitution. In one of his most famous writings of that time, Two Treatises on Government (1689), Locke established a theory where personal liberty could coexist with political power ; meaning that the people would agree to obey the government and in return, the government would have the responsibility of respecting the people’s natural rights. In other words, he laid out a social contract theory that provided the philosophy and source of a governing author...
September 17, 1787, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; during the heat of summer, in a stuffy assembly room of Independence Hall, a group of delegates gathered. After four months of closed-door quorums, a four page, hand written document was signed by thirty-nine attendees of the Constitutional Convention. This document, has come to be considered, by many, the framework to the greatest form of government every known; the Constitution of the United States. One of the first of its kind, the Constitution laid out the frame work for the government we know today. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people; constructed of three branches; each branch charged with their own responsibilities. Article one established the Congress or Legislative branch, which would be charged with legislative powers. Article two created the Executive branch, providing chief executive powers to a president, who would act in the capacity of Commander in Chief of the Country’s military forces. The President of the United States also acts as head of state to foreign nations and may establish treaties and foreign policies. Additionally, the President and the departments within the Executive branch were established as the arm of government that is responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws written by Congress. Thirdly, under Article three of the Constitution, the Judicial branch was established, and consequently afforded the duty of interpreting the laws, determining the constitutionality of the laws, and apply it to individual cases. The separation of powers is paramount to the system of checks and balances among the three branches; however, although separate they must support the functions of the others. Because of this, the Legislative an...
John Locke, Rousseau, and Napoleon all have very different views on what would make a good society. Locke uses a democracy/republican type view that many countries still model after today. Locke’s view on a happy society is the most open and kind to its people, out of the three. Rousseau takes the complete opposite stance from Locke in thinking a more dictatorship government would be what is best for society as a whole as what is good for one person is good for one’s society. Napoleon plays by his own rules with telling people he will follow Lockean like views only to really want to be an absolutist government under his own power. However, all of their ideas would work for a given society so long as they had a set of laws in place and citizens
For both Tocqueville in his “Democracy in America” and Locke in his “Second Treatise of Civil Government”, liberty holds a place of paramount importance in the pantheon of political values, specifically those in relation to democratic and republican systems (though Locke does not explicitly demand a republic as Tocqueville does) . From Tocqueville’s belief in the supremacy of liberty over equality , to Locke’s inclusion and conflation of liberty with property and life itself in his natural rights , liberty plays the crucial role of linchpin in both author’s political philosophy. Though this belief in the centrality of liberty is found in both Tocqueville and Locke, they each derivate liberty from fundamentally disparate sources, and thus hold
The Founding Fathers of the United States relied heavily on many of the principles taught by John Locke. Many of the principles of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government may easily be discovered in the Declaration of Independence with some minor differences in wording and order. Many of the ideas of the proper role of government, as found in the Constitution of the United States, may be discovered in the study of Locke. In order to understand the foundation of the United States, it is vital that one studies Locke. A few ideas from Hume may be found but the real influence was from Locke. Rousseau, on the other hand, had none.
There are always two-sides everything including people and the government, kind of like science vs. faith view. With Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, they give the impression to be on opposite sides when it comes to people, society and the government even and yet both were Englishmen. Hobbes was born 5 April 1588 and died 4 December 1679; he is best known today for his work on political philosophy. While John Locke was 29 August 1632 and died 28 October 1704, and is widely known as the Father of Classical Liberalism, His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. Hobbes wrote Leviathan in 1651, which established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory. Although, Locke’s writings influenced Voltaire, Rousseau and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. Locke contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Both have influences todays political philosophy.
John Locke is considered one of the best political minds of his time. The modern conception of western democracy and government can be attributed to his writing the Second Treatise of Government. John Locke championed many political notions that both liberals and conservatives hold close to their ideologies. He argues that political power should not be concentrated to one specific branch, and that there should be multiple branches in government. In addition to, the need for the government to run by the majority of the population through choosing leaders, at a time where the popular thing was to be under the rule of a monarch. But despite all of his political idea, one thing was extremely evident in his writing. This was that he preferred limited
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are two political philosophers who are famous for their theories about the formation of the society and discussing man in his natural state.
Review this essay John Locke – Second treatise, of civil government 1. First of all, John Locke reminds the reader from where the right of political power comes from. He expands the idea by saying, “we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit.” Locke believes in equality among all people. Since every creature on earth was created by God, no one has advantages over another.
Locke and Rousseau present themselves as two very distinct thinkers. They both use similar terms, but conceptualize them differently to fulfill very different purposes. As such, one ought not be surprised that the two theorists do not understand liberty in the same way. Locke discusses liberty on an individual scale, with personal freedom being guaranteed by laws and institutions created in civil society. By comparison, Rousseau’s conception portrays liberty as an affair of the entire political community, and is best captured by the notion of self-rule. The distinctions, but also the similarities between Locke and Rousseau’s conceptions can be clarified by examining the role of liberty in each theorist’s proposed state of nature and civil society, the concepts with which each theorist associates liberty, and the means of ensuring and safeguarding liberty that each theorist devises.
Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused.
The turmoil of the 1600's and the desire for more fair forms of government combined to set the stage for new ideas about sovereignty. Locke wrote many influential political pieces, such as The Second Treatise of Government, which included the proposal for a legislative branch of government that would be selected by the people. Rousseau supported a direct form of democracy in which the people control the sovereignty. (how would the people control the sovereignty??) Sovereignty is the supremacy or authority of rule. Locke and Rousseau both bring up valid points about how a government should be divided and how sovereignty should be addressed.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the legislative body possessed all authority, but this national authority was very weak. Since the early Americans distrusted the centralized British Government, they were hesitant to model it (Milkis, 5). This loose legislative body under the Articles of Confederation was regarded as a “league of friendship,” where all states had equal representation and they reserved major decisions for the state governments (Milkis, 5). The executive function at this national level was a committee-like group composed of legislators; the legislature would delegate certain representatives to execute certain laws (Milkis, 5). This proved to be a very inefficient and slow process because decisions required deliberation between more than one person and the legislature was not always in session. In sum, this was reflective of America’s distrust of any single executive authority, so the easy answer was to root the executive function in the legislative body where it is more accountable to the
The idea of a government that secures freedom, justice and relative equality amongst all citizens is a common one to both Montesquieu and Rousseau. The possible answers to the questions: “What new political concepts were developed during the Enlightenment?” and “What new ideas were brought forward concerning the notions of liberty, free will, nature, reason, social contracts, etc.?” can be found in Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Law and Rousseau’s The Social Contract. Montesquieu creates political concepts that revolve around equality and emphasizes this by his idea of splitting the government into different sectors to try to ensure the citizens are all treated fairly. One sector is responsible for making laws, one for military and the last branch is for punishing crimes made by the citizens of the state. Rousseau suggests that citizens as a collective should be seen like one body of people. Rousseau believes that collectively, everyone should believe in the same set of rules as opposed to one man creating a set for everyone to follow. Based on these two sources, it can be said that equality can never be achieved as long as there is one official ruler or form of government.These philosophers both
The Excerpt from the Spirit of the Laws 1748 is written by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, often referred to Montesquieu. The excerpt was presented in 1748, primarily to the prince who was in charge of most power at the time, introducing how to form and maintain a good government and what kinds of laws people need.