The constitution of the United States is the most influential document in our nation’s history. The document establishes the basis on which the country should be governed. But the ideas of individual freedoms and limited government were not our own. They mainly came from a revolution of thought in Europe named The Enlightenment.
John Locke’s ideas are shown throughout the constitution. His idea that the power that governments have is derived through the people is the reason why we have a Democratic Republic. Locke believed that the ruling government must have the consent of the people it ruled over. And that if said government were to become too powerful or corrupt it is the duty of the people to overthrow it. John Locke also believed in the natural rights of every person to life, liberty (freedom), and property. His ideas are shown through Thomas Jefferson’s writing of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. John Locke is known as the father of Liberalism; his ideas formed the foundation of classical liberalism. Locke rightly believed that all people are equal and free in a state of nature. A social contract is entered into via consent, whereby some amount of liberty and equality is traded for the benefits of the state. He also believed in the non-aggression principle, the idea that no one has the right to commit aggression against a person or people, and people have the right to defend their health, liberty, or property against aggression. Locke’s monumental “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” is one of the great defenses of modern empiricism and concerns itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to a wide spectrum of topics. It thus tells us in some detail what one can legitimately claim to know and what one cannot. Locke is a fundamental enlightenment thinker and should be revered.
Montesquieu’s ideas are also used throughout the constitution. Montesquieu was a French enlightenment thinker that challenged the idea of despotism. Despotism is enslaved governments headed by dictators that rule through fear. Montesquieu’s main achievement was his work added to the idea of separation of powers. Making two or three separate legislative bodies with their own checks and balances so that no one branch becomes the strongest. Montesquieu fought to get rid of the estate system in France so that it would no longer give power strictly to the church or the king. His thinking influenced the constitutional writers to implement a system similar to how he wrote it.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Switzerland but traveled throughout France and Italy. He believed that man was naturally good and was corrupted by society. Rousseau said that savages in a state of nature were peaceful, happy, and equal but only when people claim property that murder and crime presents itself. Rousseau disagreed with the social contract that Hobbes and Locke envisioned and called it a fraud against the common people committed by the rich. Rousse envisioned a direct democracy in which everything was done to better the community. In Rousseau’s democracy, anyone who disobeyed the general will of the people would be punished for the betterment of society. He believed that citizens must obey the laws or be forced to do so as long as they remained a resident of the state. This is a “civil state,” Rousseau says, where security, justice, liberty, and property are protected and enjoyed by all. He wanted us to all individually vote on laws and the majority opinion would be selected. Parts of his idea of democracy we see in the constitution today.
In today’s society the notions that were considered fundamental truths, many of which were seen as the very values that created a liberal society, are besieged daily. Ideas of the past such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and even freedom of thought are attacked and thought to need regulation. What may seem ironic to many is that the very people who seek to destroy scientific truth and enlightenment values do so in the name of progress under the banner of the left, and the apparent guardians of the west are the religious right. The progressive left has been dubbed by some as the regressive left because the ideals they pursue retard the progress of past generations. The policy prescriptions of these groups are counter intuitive to the outcomes they seek. The animosity with which these “progressive” groups attack the thinkers of the past leaves me to wonder how long will it take for the heroes of today to become the villains of tomorrow. Our nation seeks to extend democracy over a large land area so clashes of cultures and values are inevitable. Yet and still if we can not find common core values to unite us as a people we are doomed to be divided which weakens the entire structure of our nation.
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