Skip to main content

How did John Locke influence the constitution?

John Locke's revolutionary theory of the Social Compact, or Social Contract, served as the inspiration for a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." In other words, Locke's theory that governments derive their legitimacy from the "will of the people," gave rise to the notion of self-governance, and thus modern representative democracy. The social compact theory that Locke put forth stated that a group of people could agree to hold themselves accountable not to a monarch, but instead to a group of principals and laws that they would obey. Once this set of laws or principles (the social contract) was established, based on the values of those who drafted that contract, everyone in the community would have to obey the contract's provisions, or face the consequences.


The notion of having an actual constitution (in document form) came from Montesquieu, who took the social compact theory a step further. Montesquieu argued that it was not enough to have a group of founding principles, but that for a representative government to be seen as legitimate, it needed to enshrine those founding principles in one document, which everybody could back refer to when conflicts arose about how to govern. However, the entire inspiration for a government whose legitimacy comes from the people, and which is based on the laws of men, came directly from Locke. 


Moreover, the United States Constitution and our Declaration of Independence were influenced by John Locke's famous declaration that all men are endowed with certain "natural rights," which Locke described as, "life, liberty and property." Thomas Jefferson and his fellow Founding Fathers later translated Locke’s words into, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "Not only did these words end up in our Declaration of Independence, but they also served as the inspiration for our Bill of Rights, and the very notion that the government cannot and does have the power to take these rights away. As Locke argued, and as our founding fathers echoed, these rights are "inalienable.” Therefore, as Locke, and later, the Founding Fathers argued, our government can only protect and guarantee these inalienable rights, and the government exists primarily to do just that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more