Hypocrisy In John Locke's Prescriptions

Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1791 to argue against slavery and that the freedom and tranquility we enjoy is a blessing from heaven. The author uses quotes, diction and rhetorical questions to develop and support his claims. Banneker’s purpose is to get Thomas Jefferson to consider the morals of slavery. The intended audience is Thomas Jefferson and any other government official who reads this letter. To begin, Banneker uses an intricate choice of words to express how unhappy he is with slavery and those who allow it.

Between the years 1600 to 1700, English colonists were just settling the New World and establishing their own colonies, yet this colonization didn’t come without obstacles. Upon entering the seemingly unscathed land, colonists were greeted by Native Americans. At first, the two groups expressed a relationship characterized by amity and cooperation, yet as time went on, the “white superiority” of the colonists and the belief that they were primary owners of land soured the relationship. It was just a matter of time before the colonists would take over and run out the Native Americans. Primarily peaceful and affable, the relationship between the Indians and English steadily depreciated as the English overran the lands of the Indians while the

These four great minds are what shaped the future and paved a new way of thinking. They carved the world into what it is known as today. They were the ones who said that people make their own choices and should be given choice. They are the Philosophes. The great thinkers were John Locke, Adam Smith, Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), and Mary Wollstonecraft.

The average man, though he longs for freedom, feels the need to be safe. People naturally wish to have the freedom to act on things, believe in things or say things, but, they want themselves and their families to be safe while doing so. Alongside the need for safety, man has a need for privacy. People tend to react negatively to others digging into their personal lives, creating a want for their own privacy in life. This subconscious need for safety and privacy has always trumped man’s desire for absolute freedom.

The historical development of the world from 1690 to 1830 wouldn’t be what it was if it weren’t for John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Locke’s Second Treatise not only sparked individualism, but also revolutions, and was a guide to the creations of declarations around the world. Two main revolutions and declarations that Locke’s ideas inspired were the American Revolution and the French Revolution.

In the colonial era, through the Revolutionary War, the foundation of America was oratorically clarified as an act of prudence—that is, God led people, specifically the white Europeans, to America to find a new and superior or incomparable societal order that would be the light unto all realms.2 In fact, many settlers also believed in creating a new nation filled with history and stories. Along the same lines, Americans imagined a community created through selectively and elaborated events, myths of origin, courageous stories, and asserted values.3

The arrival of Europeans to the Americas signaled a clash of the Old World and the New World. The profiteering Spanish had made their impression upon the Natives of these continents with bloody conquest and exploitation. The English crossed over the Atlantic with similar hopes of profit and contempt for Spanish expansionism. How these Englishmen conducted themselves would lay some of the groundwork for a future nation, the United States of America. This particular nation would be born at the expense of countless others.

If this be a spirit of aggrandizement, the undersigned are prepared to admit, in that sense, its existence; but they must deny that it affords the slightest proof of an intention not to respect the boundaries between them and European nations, or of a desire to encroach upon the territories of Great Britain. . . . They will not suppose that that Government will avow, as the basis of their policy towards the United States a system of arresting their natural growth within their own territories, for the sake of preserving a perpetual desert for savages” . This showed that the United States would state firm in their endeavor to not only Christianize the North American continent but remain in control of the lands they had already acquired with

Before commenting on Locke and Rousseau’s policies, one must examine their basis for property, inequality, and

In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, Locke focuses on the definition and function of property in chapter four. Locke wants to argue that man can attain private property in several ways (Socrates 6 sect. 25). Locke believed that there are two arguments for the acquisition of private property in a state of nature. First the labor-mixing argument and the value-adding argument (Locke 7 sect. 27). His argument states that if one mixes one’s labor with unknown land or resources, one then owns the unowned land or resources (Locke 7 sect. 27).

In John Locke’s, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke develops an argument for the existence of God. In the the following paper, I shall first reconstruct Lockes’ argument for his claim of God’s existence. I shall then identify what I take to be the weakest premise of the argument and explain why I find it in need of justification. The following is a reconstruction of Lockes’ argument: 1) Man has a clear perception of his own being 2)

‘“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”’. According to the pamphlet, “The American Crisis”, by Thomas Paine, the need for the American colonists to act against Great Britain is due to Britain’s overpowering rule and the need for a revolution to change the faith of the colonists living in dismay. Thomas Paine describes the overpowering rule of Great Britain as detrimental and destructive to the American colonies. “...declared she has a right… TAX but ‘to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER’ … is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery on earth.” The analogy of the American colonists as slaves demonstrates the harsh living situations they were subjected to which creates ethos in the work by

John Locke views civil society—a group that is under the authority of an exclusive leader who is in charge of protecting their welfare through legislation—as a crucial repellant to absolute monarchy as well as vital to protecting an individual’s property, because its origin which is the paternal model where an individual gives up certain rights in return for protection from an executive. In his Second Treatise on Government, Locke pushes the idea that God did not intend for a man to be alone, but to have the option of joining a society amongst other men. Continuing with this notion, he explains the origins of the civil society through the paternal model which he considers as the beginning of society of people coming together under one man.

When comparing the two different accounts of English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke we must take into consideration a number of things such as the age in which they lived and the time in which they produced their philosophical writings. We will however find out that these two philosophers actually have a couple of things in which agree on even though most of their opinions clash. On one side we have Thomas Hobbes who lived in the time of the English Civil War (1642-1651) who provides a negative framework for his philosophical opinions in his masterpiece Leviathan and who advocates for philosophical absolutism . On the other side we have John Locke, living during the glorious revolution (1688-1689) he presents a positive attitude in his book The Second Treatise of Government and advocates for philosophical and biblical constitutionalism. It is important that we know that the state of nature describes a pre- political society prior to the social contract.

Therefore, based on the above, I am clearly in support of Locke's theory in comparison with the one his opponent. The distinct reasons why I consider such a position are discussed