Classical Liberalism And Natural Rights

The Lockean ideas are fundamental in the founding documents. In the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, it begins with a revolutionary phrase, “We the people.”The first three words of the preamble to the Constitution suggest one element unique to the American Revolution. First, its outcome was a government created by the people, and for the service of the people. The new American government was not one existing independently of them or, in some respect, over them. The idea of popular sovereignty in the United States predates the

These rights included life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He also believed in having a limited government. His ideas had a great impact on the U.S. government and the Declaration of Independence. John Locke’s influence was evident in the Declaration of Independence when it said, “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The colonists believed they had these unalienable rights, therefore the Americans established a government where people would be guaranteed these rights. The Americans believed that Britain was “deaf to the voice of justice.” Britain refused to respond to the outcries of the colonists. John Locke believed selfishness would always get in the way of acting morally, and Britain’s selfishness was blinding them from the suffering the colonists faced. The Americans developed a government that would listen to the people and let them have a

John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu both helped to build our constitution and we borrowed some of their ideas for how we live our lives in America. John Locke had the idea that people were born with the three natural rights: life, liberty, and property. We as an early country

Constitution. John Locke’s belief of “life, liberty, and property” was the most influence on the American. Beside the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, and English Bill of Rights, Locke also has a great influence of limit government. Locke’s Social Contract theory was to protect the basic rights of the people, it for the right of citizens to revolt against their king. Social contract is a convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. According to Locke, the State of Nature is a state of perfect and complete liberty to behavior one's life as one best perceives fit, and free from the interfering of others. Also from Locke’s view of State of Nature, he believes it was given by

John Locke also believed that government should protect people's natural rights and people can revolt if the government fails or tries to take away peoples natural rights which were life, liberty and property. (doc5) Locke also wrote the 2 treaties of government where he argued that people form government to protect natural rights and the best kind of government had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Montesquieu also believed that democracy was the best form of government and thought that the best way to protect liberty was to have the three branches of government legislative-creates laws, judicial-interprets laws and executive-enforces laws.(doc 6) He came up with the concept checks and balances which made sure that none of the branches of government had to much power, because they would watch over each other. In a book The Spirit of Laws he explained how he thought that this was the best government and how it was better than other governments throughout history and was a great way to protect liberty. Another ruler who believed that democracy was the best form of government as Rousseau. He believed that people in there natural state were mostly good. He put his faith in the "general will", and believed that the majority of the people should set forth their ideas about government. He put his ideas about society into the social contract.

Many of John Locke’s ideas were input into the Declaration of Independence, as his primary words “life, liberty” and instead of property, the pursuit of happiness, are the basis of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Locke’s arguments concerning liberty influenced the works of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, as his Second Treatise is imitated in the Declaration of Independence. When the founding fathers adopted the resolution for the nation’s

Our country’s founders didn’t come up with the ideas of our government’s structure and beliefs by themselves; they all were greatly influenced by many different people, including some of the philosophers of the Enlightenment period. However, one of these philosophers in particular shaped a founder’s ideas more directly than the rest. Ultimately, John Locke directly and greatly influenced Thomas Jefferson’s political philosophy and agreed with the majority of his beliefs, which can be seen especially in the Declaration of Independence and the fundamental ideas each man emphasizes in his works. While there are a few small differences in their philosophies, they are still so similar that Jefferson has even been accused of plagiarizing parts of Locke’s compositions.

Richard Hofstadter examines the political beliefs of the founding fathers in the first chapter of the American Political Tradition. Ideas thought about by most Americans to be the center of our organization, our founders viewed liberty, democracy, and property, as evil. The composition can be depicted to be vicious as well, because liberty, democracy, and property are linked to the United States Constitution.

His writings had a great impact in the perception of the leaders of America. John Locke was an English philosopher who highly influenced the Founding Fathers. He highly believed in natural science and in the growing middle class and represented the principles of the Enlightenment. In an essay Locke wrote concerning human understanding in 1690, Locke denied the idea of native beliefs and argued that every individual is born with a blank mind and that it is the environment that shapes the individual. Thomas Hobbes 's belief that kings govern by divine power was rejected by Locke. He believed that every human being was born equal and that the surroundings in the environment was what molded everyone. Locke argued that people are blessed with some natural rights such as liberty, life, and property. Locke was the philosopher that exposed the concept of governmental checks and balances which later became the foundation for the U. S. Constitution.

Furthermore, both protect natural rights, but in classical republicanism there are limitations, if your natural right conflicts with the fruitful society. Although these beliefs differ, they share a point in the middle. For example, both believe that political rights are important. Moreover, the two ideals compare on the topic of education since both agree that children must be trained in good civic values so they participate in government. Not to mention, obtain the same knowledge and skills as everyone else. In addition, morals such as kindness and tolerance being are important to classical republicanism and natural rights .

This fresh, new foundation came in the form a document that outlined the way the government would work. Unlike the way Europe was governed before the Enlightenment period, Americans, since they had recently liberated themselves from the British throne, wanted to establish a government in such a way that would prevent tyrannical monarchy. By this time, they still were faced with the challenge of a republican self government. But again, we see the influence of Locke’s ideas from his Treatise, where he proposed that people had the right to establish their own government for their own protection of their natural rights. As a result of this idea, the preamble to the Constitution was created. This section provided analysis as to what the whole Constitution was about; improvement on the current government (to ensure that they are just) and protection for its citizens.

Natural rights are inherent in human beings, not dependent on the government. Where civil liberties are regulations on the government to protect intrusion or dismissal of these rights.

Locke's identification of natural rights John Locke, one of the founders of our great country, had three natural rights that he believed in life, liberty, and estate. These natural rights still exist today within the American law. John Locke's identification of natural rights fits well with American law because John Locke had a big influence on the shaping of American government and laws. The extent of liberty that each American has is still the same as when Locke came up with this natural right. In America, people still get to make their own decisions on their religious views, what lifestyle they want to live, their political views, and how they act.

The Natural Rights Theory played a major role in the finding of this nation. The Founding Fathers placed tremendous value on this theory, modeling the Constitution and Bill of Rights to address the fundamental rights for all of it's citizens. Moral values are emphasized within these documents including respect for persons and justice. Impartiality is the underlying theme of the Bill of Rights, and all American citizens have this 'birth right'. As a first generation American, I have first hand knowledge of the sense of entitlement or 'privilege' of being an American. Americans in particular have a strong sense of entitlement when it comes to these rights, and may be viewed as overbearing especially in the eyes of other countries. In my opinion,

In class we learned two theories about government, natural rights philosophy, to secure individual rights are the reason for government. As well as, classical republicanism, emphasizes how imperative the individual’s responsibility to the state. In other words, natural rights allow the people to be in tune with nature like not obeying the death penalty, whereas classical republicanism is following the law such as punishing culprits by matching their penalties to their crimes. Natural law/rights or law of nature were developed by Englishman John Locke. He believed that the rights: life, liberty, and property were natural rights and you would have the right to defend them if other people threatened to take them away.