John Locke, Natural Rights
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=68743
General Information
Source:
NBC Learn
Resource Type:
Creator:
Nina Terrero
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
08/29/1632
06/17/2014
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video MiniDocumentary
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2014
00:03:18
Description
The writings of John Locke, a philosopher and political theorist of the Age of Enlightenment, would
greatly influence the leaders of the American Revolution. This story is produced by NBC Learn in
partnership with Pearson.
Keywords
John Locke, Social Contract, Power, Social Contract Theory, Government, Executive Powers, Political
Theory, Philosophy, Philosophers, Theorists, Democracy, Democracies, Democratization, Democratic
Consolidation, Equality, Citizenship, Citizens, Treatises of Government, Rights, Life, Liberty, Property,
Freedom, Consent of the Governed, Consent, Legitimacy, Enlightenment, Natural Rights, State of Nature
, Separation of Powers, Separation of Church and State, Framers, Constitution, Declaration of
Independence, Sovereign, Divine Rights, Divine Right of Kings, Divine Right Theory, Division of Powers
Citation
© 2008-2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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MLA
"John Locke, Natural Rights." Nina Terrero, correspondent. NBC Learn. NBCUniversal Media. 17 June
2014. NBC Learn. Web. 6 May 2017
APA
Terrero, N. (Reporter). 2014, June 17. John Locke, Natural Rights. [Television series episode]. NBC
Learn. Retrieved from https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=68743
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"John Locke, Natural Rights" NBC Learn, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 06/17/2014. Accessed Sat
May 6 2017 from NBC Learn:
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=68743
Transcript
John Locke, Natural Rights
NINA TERRERO reporting:
The great question of all ages, John Locke wrote in 1689, has been "not whether there be power in the
world, nor whence it came, but who should have it."
Locke was one of the most influential philosophers of the Enlightenment, whose revolutionary ideas
would influence the 18th century's greatest political experiment - the American government.
Born in 1632, Locke lived through one of the most volatile times in England's history, with civil war,
religious intolerance, and the awakenings of intellectual and scientific thought stirring up controversy.
Educated at Oxford, Locke became acquainted with scholars, scientists, and nobility, including the Earl of
Shaftesbury, who introduced Locke into political circles during the Restoration of Charles II and would
influence Locke's political ideas.
Locke opposed absolute monarchy and the theory of "divine right" of kings. In his influential work, Two
Treatises on Government, Locke argued against the theory and offered an alternative idea on how and
why a government is formed.
"To understand political power," wrote Locke, it must be recognized that people are born with natural,
God-given rights to "life, liberty, and property."
Locke stated that people form social contracts in order to protect their rights, "agreeing with other men to
join and unite into a community," and by their consent, create a legitimate government to act according to
their will. Locke thought "no government can have a right to obedience from a people who have not freely
consented to it."
If, after "a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices," the government fails in its duty, the people
could withdraw consent and "endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the ends
for which government was first erected."
A century later, the enlightened sparks of John Locke's philosophy were aflame in the American colonies.
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Thomas Jefferson and other leaders of the American Revolution were inspired by Locke's arguments for
natural rights, the consent of the governed, and the right to throw off a tyrannical government, all ideas
reflected in the Declaration of Independence.
Other theories of Locke’s, including the separation of power and the separation of church and state, would
find their way into the framing of the U.S. Constitution.
For the first time, a government would be formed to protect the unalienable rights of the people, with
power granted by the people, and offering political redress for the people.
And the answer to the great question of the ages? Who should have the power? As Locke wrote, "this
doctrine of a power in the people...is the best fence against rebellion."
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