The Nature of Government

The ideas of the philosopher John Locke were a base for the writing of the Declaration of Independence. To describe his ideas of what a government should do, Locke used a concept called the 'state of nature'. This concept illustrates a world in which there is no government, and all humans look out for themselves. Locke decided that all humans would act a certain way in this state of nature, because there are a few things that all humans would want to have and defend. He called these things the natural rights. Locke believed that these rights are unalienable, meaning that they are embedded into our very being, and nothing can take them away. He described them as life, liberty, and property. The right to life is, of course, simply being alive. The right to liberty means having the freedom to make your own choices and do what you will with your right of life. The right to property means that you can have things that are your own and nobody else's, and you may use them and defend them however you choose. Locke also believed that in a state of nature, these rights would always be threatened by other humans who would be seeking to protect their own rights. Without government, there would be no laws to prevent humans from killing each other over these rights, as humans in general are always looking out for themselves before others. He decided that a good government would be formed by the people to protect those rights. For the rights to be protected, the people would have to adhere to some laws that would make sure that no person was without them, such as a law against theft or murder. (Those of course are only the most obvious examples.) Locke said that the government would only have power as long as those governed chose to give it power. If they wanted to collapse the government and return to a state of nature, it was within their power to do so.