Essay The Foundations of Government - 831 Words

The quot;Enlightenmentquot; or the quot;Age of Realizationquot; was an age of great advancement and reform for all of Europe and beyond. Great advancements were being made in the fields of science, philosophy, mathematics, and logic. Most people attribute these achievements to the social critics of that time, also known as the philosophers. These philosophers were controversial thinkers and pioneered the intellectual movements of the 1700s. They stood up for what they believed in, although they were constantly criticized and censured by many other people. Such philosophers include Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Aristotle, and Montesquieu. Although their beliefs contradicted, they were all working to change what they thought was wrong with†¦show more content†¦He coined the phrase, quot;voice of the people,quot; but he thought that this quot;voicequot; should be vetoed if a ruler deemed it proper. John Locke was born in 1632 at Wrinton in Somerset, England. He opposed the views of Thomas Hobbes and thought that people were born neither good nor evil. He believed that peoples characters were solely based on their experiences and their environment. He also believed that people could learn from their experiences and change their characters for the better. He believed that people had three Natural Rights- life, liberty, and property. In Lockes eyes, the purpose of the government was to protect the peoples Natural Rights. He thought that if the government was not doing this job, that the people had the right to overthrow it. Although it may seem that Locke would support a democracy, he was not a democrat. He believed that laborers were of a lower status that the middle and upper classes and had no place meddling in the affairs of the government. He believed that the poor had neither the education nor the inclination to make political decisions responsibly. This was a popular belief of the time. Many of Locke’s political ideas, such as those relating to natural rights, property rights, the duty of the government to protect these rights, and the rule of the majority, were later embodied in the United StatesShow MoreRelatedFoundations of American Government1084 Words   |  5 PagesFoundations of American Government I believe the five pathways for change were put here to guide us in becoming a more efficient government and to give different examples of how to go about change in America. All of the pathways are important but to me the most important is the lobbying decision makers’ pathway. â€Å"Lobbyists are said to be advocates, someone who represents a specific side of an issue. According to Thomson Gale Legal Encyclopedia, A lobbyist and a lawyer have similar attributes whereasRead MoreThe Foundations Of The Federal Government1103 Words   |  5 PagesThe foundations of The Federal Government were based in two differing sets of beliefs. 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