Comparing Locke And Montesquieu's Two Treatises Of Government

The Enlightenment was a period highlighted by philosophers challenging previous thinkers. The the writings of John Locke and Montesquieu advocated for a more powerful voice for the general public who had previously been tightly controlled by the Church and government. Locke and Montesquieu efforts told us that the government had a tight grip on the people. Locke big idea was the equality for the people. He talked about the government should only exist with the consent of free people. In his first statement of the Two Treatises of Government he discussed that people have their own freedom to do whatever they please but there is a certain limit to those freedoms. One of the biggest ideas from Locke was the social contract. The political doctrine has created four key principles. One principle is a need for a powerful political and social organization. Another principle is a ruler can justify his or her power by an agreement between the ruler and the ruled. How he demonstrated this principle by the statement that said “one man comes by a power over another; but yet no absolute or arbitrary power, to use a criminal, when he has got him in his hands, according to the passionate heats, or boundless extravagancy of his own will”. His third principle was a different circumstance allowed for different types of authority to be given. Locke’s last principle was when the philosophy of state is a legitimately established government, the people …show more content…
Most of them did not worry about what the Church or the government had to say about their beliefs. They wanted to believe that everything came from Nature not God. These thinkers decided to disassociate themselves with the opinions of the Church. In previous movements everyone was worried about the Church and how they reacted to their ideas, but these thinkers wanted to separate the Church’s ideas of their own. By doing this it allowed for people to understand their true