John Locke's Second Treatise Of Government

English philosopher John Locke influenced the American Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, on the ideas of tyranny, natural rights and the separation of power within government. In Locke’s First and Second Treatise of Government he establishes the belief that would eventually be called, Liberalism; that the people should govern themselves. Locke’s works helped shaped Jefferson and the United States of America through his ideologies.

The purpose of government is to assist and aid its citizens in a stable and fair economy, and to protect them from foreign aggression. If the government fails to provide this, then through elections the people have the right to elect those who are more inclined to govern by providing the wants and needs of
This form of government is flexible thereby reducing the possibility of anarchy. “When the government is dissolved, the people are at liberty to provide for themselves, by erecting a new legislative, differing from the other, by the change of persons, or form, or both, as they shall find it most for their safety and good,” (John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chapter XIX, Article 220). The American two party system allows the people to differ in their ideas from each other on how the government should lead. Through the election of representatives the people can decide what actions the government will take. “We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us… We must, therefore acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation,” (Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, Paragraph 5). To prevent representatives from gaining to much power, term limits have been placed on both the Executive and Legislative Branches. To farther reduce the President from obtaining to much influence over government he is allowed only two, four-year terms. The Legislative Branch is broken into two bodies the House and the Senate. By constant elections it farther reduces either body from becoming too powerful over the
Locke’s ideas may have contributed to the Glorious Revolution in England, which started the idea of a Parliamentary government; which would eventually succeed monarchies. “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it… no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions,” (John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chapter II, Article 6). Jefferson became more in tune with Locke’s writings as the British exerted more control over the Colonies and increased taxes, “taxation without representation.” Based on that, the Founding Father’s decided to organize and form an independent country that was self-governing with the rights of its citizens at the forefront. “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,” (Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, Article 2). Is evident through the Declaration of Independence and Constitution that the most important thing to Jefferson and the Founding Fathers was individual rights and freedom. The Articles of Confederation gave power to each state independently but did not set forth a central governing body overall. This flaw leads to the creation of America’s current Constitution, which established the laws that