He believed in Natural Law and
that people have Natural Rights, under which the right of property is
most important. He wrote: "... every man has a property in his
own person. This nobody has any right to but himself." He
believed government exists to protect those rights and he argued in
favour of revolt against tyranny. His ideas were a foundation for
much of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
John Locke said, "The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts."
This is the simple announcement that was sent to me by The Writer's Almanac this morning.
Locke passed away in 1704 yet his influence was such that he helped the drafters of the American Constitution to do their work 70 years later.
It is of interest to read what Wikipedia has to say about him
The Gutenberg Project has one of John Locke's books available as a free download in a variety of formats. What not have a look at his work to find out why he influenced what is arguably as being the greatest Constitution even written. And one that seems to be under attack today.
No comments:
Post a Comment