The Impact Of John Locke's Second Treatise Of Government

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The Second Treatise of Government written by John Locke had a huge impact on the historical development of the world from 1690 to 1830. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke writes that “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it,” (Locke, p. 35) as follows, people are all created by God therefore they are all equal however, people need law to facilitate peace, “health, liberty, or possessions” in consequence a form of government is a needed (Locke, p. 35). No man can have a higher authority over the other unless he is “agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe and peaceable living one amongst another,” (Locke, p. 36). Such agreement allows men to create a society that works…show more content…
Britain won the seven-year war with France however, the victory came with a price. Britain raised its taxes to pay off the debt, leaving many people poor and unable to sustain a living. The Stamp Act forced the people of Britain to pay tax on the use of paper, this taxation would provide Britain with standing troops in the colonies for the enforcement of the increased taxes. Britain did not have sympathy of its people that could not afford the taxes, it was a law, therefore, it had to be obeyed. Locke’s theory on tyranny inspired the people to protest against the Stamp Act. A union of urban lower-middle ranks established a boycott of British goods and in 1766 the British parliament withdrew the Stamp Act. This was also seen with the tea tax that forced the Coercive Acts to be passed (PWH, p 662-663). These rebellions were the start of Locke’s inspiration; without the force of the people on the government, they would not make changes because the government cared for the power of the nation and not the people who made the nation. This directly resembles Locke’s writing, “ to take away and destroy the property of the people. . . they put themselves to into a state of war with the people” (Locke, p. 38). The Declaration of Independence later followed, with a Congress that was more representative of its citizens than the Parliament in Great Britain (PWH, p
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