Why Did John Locke Preserve A Republican Form Of Government

Decent Essays
SIMULATED CONGRESSIONAL HEARING

SPEECH QUESTIONS

Unit One - What is Government?

1. John Locke was an English philosopher who thought about why it was necessary to have a government.
• What did Locke think would happen without government?
• What did John Locke believe to be the purpose of government?
• Do you think government might have purposes that Locke did not mention? Explain your answer.

2. The Founders were concerned with how to preserve a republican form of government.
• According to the Founders, what was republican government?
• What weaknesses did the Founders think would lead to the failure of republican government?
• How did the Founders think these weaknesses could be prevented? Do you think the Founders' solutions were

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    What motivated individuals to either support or oppose the Constitution? What were their objectives and methods? Compare/Contrast the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Describe the various consequences to continue their opposition to the Constitution or to work within the new system of government. Our history today is greatly influenced by our past experiences.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    European philosophers as early as the seventeenth century begin debating how to run government. As different forms of democracy come about, wars breakout amongst European nations. Ideas on human nature and how man runs government spread throughout the world, determining for years the ways of society. The first philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, promotes the strict monarchy of commonwealth, the second, John Locke, promotes the liberal monarchy, and the last, Jean-Jacques Rousseau promotes liberal republicanism. Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, born in 1588 of Malmesbury, is most known for his work in modern political philosophy.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (Where it came from and how basically.) What basic ideas about the government did the founders have? Founders How does the constitution protect your right to freedom? How does the constitution protect our basic rights? How did the government influence people’s way of doing things and lives?…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As Alexander Hamilton once said, “Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.” The Founding Fathers recognized that it is inherently the nature of the people to place their own ambitions above the needs of the country as a whole. It was for this very reason that the Founding Fathers set out to create a government that would maintain balance between the branches of government to prevent tyranny, to prevent a majority taking advantage of a minority, and ultimately to protect the people from themselves.…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Spencer Escue Coach Quinn European History November 24, 2015 The Ideas of John Locke A philosopher is someone who is engaged or learned in philosophy. So who were some of the greatest philosophers?…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    MaKenna Jueneman World History 31 Oct. 2017 What Was the Main Point of the Enlightenment Philosophers? The Enlightenment was known as a philosophical movement or the age of reason. It took place in the late 17th and 18th century.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This government design led to citizens viewing their leaders as superiors whom they obeyed without resistance or question. However, during the Enlightenment, philosophers such as John Locke presented revolutionary ideas that contradicted the widespread acceptance of absolute monarchy. In Two Treatises of Government by John Locke, Locke describes a nation’s government as an institution controlled by citizens. He also proposed that the purpose of…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Locke contended that individual freedom was highly important in order to succeed in a suitable government. In “Of the State of Nature” and “Of the Dissolution of Government,” Locke stated that men and women are by nature independent and free, and have the absolute right to take care and maintain this freedom. (Document A). In order to take good care of the government, there would need to be two branches: a legislative and executive branch. Locke argued that a government that had been created by free individuals was more successful to preserve it, versus a monarchy.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To begin, individual rights was an important part of John Locke’s ideas on government. John Locke mentions, “a state of perfect freedom...within the bounds of the law of nature”(DocA).He also stated that, “when the government is dissolved, the people are at liberty to provide forthemselves, by erecting a new legislative...”(Doc A).…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This idea was a key part of their thinking in four areas: government, religion, economics, and social equality for women. John Locke argued that individual freedom was an important part of Locke's ideas on government. According to document A in the first paragraph, Locke first wrote that people are naturally free and have the right to maintain their freedom. In addition, on the same document paragraph 2, Locke states " To preserve this freedom, men need to create a government with a legislative and an executive. " Freedom was the main idea of Locke’s thoughts about government because a government that is created by free individuals was more likely than a monarchy to preserve the freedom of individuals.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Locke an english philosophe says in the Second Treatise on Civil Government, “a state of perfect freedom to order their possessions and to order actions… within bounds of the law of nature… ”(Document A). In other words John Locke argues that people should have freedoms within limits. According to Locke, if the government fails the people, the people have the power to overthrow the government. Freedom was the main idea of Locke’s thoughts about government because, all…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Dorinda Outram’s book The Enlightenment contains the chapter “Enlightenment and Government” which highlights that contrary to popular belief, not all philosophes had the same ideas when it came to the ideal government. Outram focuses on the misconceptions people had about the Enlightenment and bring to light the true differences people had about government during this time period. Outram discusses the relationship between the Enlightenment and government, a relationship that has had few research. Through the lives of three leaders in Enlightenment and government John Lock, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it is clear how philosophes greatly differed yet had many similarities in the way they viewed government. John Locke’s view of government is based on the idea that all men are in a state of nature by God; Locke refers to this state as perfect freedom in Second Treatise on Government.…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Locke believed people needed to form a government in order to protect their property. As stated in The Second Treatise of Government, “The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting into commonwealths and putting themselves under government is the preservation of property…” (Locke, 37). Under the rule of the king, the natural rights people had to property (life, liberty, and estates) were taken, however, Locke believed that by joining or creating a representative government, their natural rights would be preserved. In contrast, Rousseau believed that the purpose of a direct government was to bring harmony and unite the people under the general will.…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The founders of the Declaration of Independence sought to create a government that would be formed from the ideas and concepts that they had encountered through their various readings and studies. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are by far the most influential thinkers of the Constitution and continue to affect American thought even today. Many of John Locke’s ideas directly correlate with those included in the Declaration of Independence yet they are reworded to suit the needs of the new government.…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It can do whatever is necessary to keep the people safe. For Locke, government is limited by its purpose. Its purpose is to preserve natural rights. If it isn’t doing this, then it is illegitimate and needs changed. Locke goes on to talk about social contract.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays