18th Century Political Discussions & Revolutions

The ideas of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a great influence on the American Founding Fathers, providing them with a rationale for their development of an independent government by offering an analysis of the relationship between the people and their government. John Locke discussed the matter in his The Second Treatise of Civil Government, a work in which he developed the idea that government could rightfully operate only with the consent of the governed and that any attempt to govern in defiance of the will of the people was tyranny. Locke's thinking would become a vital element in constitutionalism, the theory that the people give authority to governments conditionally as part of a contract, a social contract.

Locke differed from the norm of his time and did not see the power of kings as being given to them by God but rather as deriving from some social conditio

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ue of Classical Liberalism is evident in the views of Burke. The liberal perspective elevated the individual, and Burke considered society as standing above the individual and as offering control and stability to the life of the individual. He explicitly denied the social contract theory. Burke argued against the Revolution in France and demanded war against the new state. He believed that the French Revolution had brought about a devaluation in tradition, and he feared its spread to England. He saw strength in the English constitution, which offered continuity and unorganized growth as well as a respect for traditional wisdom. Burke suggested an interpretation of nature and the natural order and thus implied a deep respect for the historical process. This also shows that social change is not only possible but inevitable. However, for Burke the scope and the role of thought operating as a reforming instrument on society as a whole is limited and should act in response to specific tensions or specific possibilities rather than in large radical schemes that might interfere with the stable, habitual life of society. Burke saw history as governed by an "eternal law" which he said could be discerned in both history and Chris
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Approximate Word count = 2096
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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