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05.05H - The Age of Enlightenment
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Lifetime Achievement Award
Most Enlightened Thinker of the 18th Century
The honoree for the Most Enlightened Thinker of the 18th Century goes to someone who has greatly influenced our U.S. government and the basic principles of our country. Hailing from England, John Locke was a philosopher who held a more optimistic view of human nature. His beliefs in how governments should be structured were different than many at the time. Locke placed importance on the people and their rights. He also stressed how the government did not have absolute power but was entrusted with it by the people.
Locke produced multiple works, but it was his "Two Treatises of Government" in 1689 that became the most influential. In this, Locke expressed his belief on the social contract - an agreement between the people and government - to be that the people granted the government permission to rule and protect them. He also expressed how they could change the government if it did not abide by the wills and needs of the people. Locke's views opposed previous notions, causing a change in thinking as other philosophers began to follow his ideas.
To see the impact Locke's ideas have had, we need to look no further than the founding of the U.S. Constitution and government. Locke's view of the social contract has influenced important documents like the Declaration of Independence. The document states: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security". The Declaration of Independence also reflects Locke's influence on what he called natural rights. The document refers to these as unalienable rights -something every person has - and states that they are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Locke also believed in the "consent of the governed". This means that the people could change the government if it abused the people's wills and rights. Expressed in our Declaration of Independence, this was also seen when American colonists rebelled against British rule through actions such as the Boston Tea Party.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Most Enlightened Thinker of the 18th Century goes to John Locke.
By Alexa Rose
John Locke
Declaration of Independence
Our Unalienable Rights:
"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."
Boston Tea Party
"Two Treatises of Government"
Sources
- Declaration of Independence. "Declaration of Independence: A Transcription." National Archives, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript.
- "Unalienable Rights," by Alexis Zarraga. Declaration of Independence, nhdofdeclarationofindependence.weebly.com/unalienable-rights.html.
- Illustration of Boston Tea Party. "The Boston Tea Party," by History.com Editors. HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 12 Dec. 2019, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-tea-party.
- Page of John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government. "Two treatises of government." Internet Archive Open Library, 22 July 2019, openlibrary.org/works/OL880200W/Two_treatises_of_government.
- Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/REX/Shutterstock.com. John Locke, oil on canvas by Herman Verelst, 1689; in the National Portrait Gallery, London. "John Locke." Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/John-Locke#/media/1/345753/74910.