John Locke

(noun)

John Locke, widely known as the Father of Classical Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers.

Related Terms

(noun)

widely known as the Father of Classical Liberalism, he was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Related Terms

Examples of John Locke in the following topics:

  • Popular Consent, Majority Rule, and Popular Sovereignty

    • Using thinking similar to that of English philosopher John Locke, the founders of the United States believed in a state built upon the consent of "free and equal" citizens; a state otherwise conceived would lack legitimacy and legal authority.
    • Popular sovereignty in its modern sense, that is, including all the people and not just noblemen, is an idea that dates to the social contracts school (mid-17th to mid-18th centuries), represented by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), John Locke (1632–1704), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), author of The Social Contract, a prominent political work that clearly highlighted the ideals of "general will" and further matured the idea of popular sovereignty.
    • John Locke was an English philosopher whose writings on the consent of the governed heavily influenced the founders of the United States

  • Liberalism

    • The early liberal thinker John Locke, who is often credited with the creation of liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition, employed the concept of natural rights and the social contract to argue that the rule of law should replace both tradition and absolutism in government; that rulers were subject to the consent of the governed; and that private individuals had a fundamental right to life, liberty, and property .
    • John Locke, often credited for the creation of liberalism as a philosophical tradition.

  • The Bill of Rights

    • To some degree, the Bill of Rights incorporated the ideas of John Locke, who argued in his 1689 work, Two Treatises of Government, that civil society was created for the protection of property .
    • Locke also advanced the notion that each individual is free and equal in the state of nature.
    • Unlike Thomas Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance.
    • Like Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature allowed men to be selfish.
    • However, Locke never refers to Hobbes by name and may instead have been responding to other writers of the day.

  • Liberty

    • Within the context of social liberty, the British philosopher John Stuart Mill, in his work On Liberty, sought to define the "nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual."
    • The founders of the United States were heavily influenced by the writings of John Locke, who had declared in Two Treatises of Government that under natural law, all people have the right to life, liberty, and estate.

  • The Constitution

    • Following the Glorious Revolution, British political philosopher John Locke was a major influence expanding on the contract theory of government advanced by Thomas Hobbes .
    • Locke advanced the principle of consent of the governed in his Two Treatises of Government.
    • It was authenticated with the Great Seal of King John.

  • Informal Methods of Amending the Constitution: Societal Change and Judicial Review

    • This is commonly held to have been established by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Marbury vs.

  • Regulating Campaign Finance

    • The amount spent on the presidential race alone was $2.4 billion, and over $1 billion of that was spent by the campaigns of the two major candidates: Barack Obama spent $730 million in his election campaign, and John McCain spent $333 million.
    • The amount spent on the presidential race alone was $2.4 billion, and over $1 billion of that was spent by the campaigns of the two major candidates: Barack Obama spent $730 million in his election campaign, and John McCain spent $333 million.
    • In 2004 Bush and Democrats John Kerry and Howard Dean chose not to take matching funds in the primary.
    • In 2008, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Republicans John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul decided not to take primary matching funds.
    • Republican Tom Tancredo and Democrats Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and John Edwards elected to take public financing.

  • Sunset Laws

    • The Sedition Act of 1798 was a political tool used by John Adams and the Federalist Party to suppress opposition that contained a sunset provision.
    • John Adams and his Federalist Party used a sunset provision in the Sedition Act of 1798 to ensure that the Sedition Act would cease once Adams was out of office.

  • Two Judicial Revolutions: The Rehnquist Court and the Roberts Court

    • Rehnquist presided as Chief Justice for nearly 19 years, making him the fourth-longest-serving Chief Justice after John Marshall, Roger Taney and Melville Fuller.
    • The Roberts Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States since 2005, under the leadership of Chief Justice John G.
    • Roberts took the Constitutional oath of office, administered by senior Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the White House, on September 29, 2005, almost immediately after his confirmation.

  • The Civil Rights Acts

    • In a civil rights speech on June 11, 1963, President John F.
    • President John F.