Writers that Have Influenced Our Government

In the past there have been many great writers that have influenced our government, but John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau have had the greatest impact. When hearing this, a few questions may come to mind such as; who were these two men? When did they live? Where did they live? What were their views on government? And how did they influence our government?

John Locke is known as "The Philosopher of Freedom". John Locke was born in 1635 in England. Locke believed that government should be a joint power and that the members of one power should not transfer over to the other. He believed in the rights of man to life, liberty and property. In the Declaration of Independence there is a sentence that is based on Locke's believes, it is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-"In the constitution you will find that we based our government on separated powers with checks and balances, another idea of Locke's. This protects our rights and freedoms because without checks and balances politicians could try to take advantage of their power.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in 1712 in Geneva. He was a believer in equality and simple living. He later in life wrote about how following the law makes a man moral. He believed that men should not give up their natural rights in government. But they should form a compact to submit to the general will, or good of the community, for the better protection of the rights of all. This idea can later be found in our Constitution. The Constitution says that everyone has rights but in order to have them you must not infringe on others rights and follow the law. This also helps protect our rights because everyone is free to do what they want as long as it is legal and it is not interfering with someone else's right to do what they want.