Locke and Jefferson

Name:

Tutor:

Course:

Date:

Locke and Jefferson

Question 1

Locke defines political power as the authority to make laws that clearly indicate privileges and penalties for specific actions within a society. In addition, it is the right of a country to defend itself against any form of external aggression.

Question 2

Locke assumes that men are naturally in a state of independence in which they can do whatever they want without asking for permission. Furthermore, he asserts that they can sell their assets and even bury their loved ones using any method as long as it is confined within the law. Thus, the law of nature is significant because it makes people live a responsible lifestyle in the full knowledge that if they harm a fellow human being, they will pay for it through the appropriate punishment. Hence, it brings order and civility in a society since people learn to respect those in authority. However, even leaders learn to be humble since no one is immortal. Consequently, he states that the state of nature is a real thing and this differs from that of Hobbes who thinks that there is no real law that naturally grants one man power over another. Therefore, the state of war is distinct from the state of nature because it advocates for total destruction of a fellow man when an individual feels that his/her life is under threat thereby spreading enmity instead of peace.

Question 3

Slavery is understood to be a never-ending state of war between a master and a servant due to a lack of contract limiting power and obedience respectively.

Question 4

Property rights arise from the location of different ethnicities across a wide geographical location. Essentially, the unique areas that people live in become their properties by virtue of their presence there. Consequently, labor plays a part in the acquisition by way of the energy, time and effort that is spent in either cultivating land or killing wild animals for food. Thus, the purpose of money is to act as a measure of the value of such land.

Question 5

The recognition that law and order has to be maintained in order for people to carry on with their daily lives in a communal setting is what establishes the bonds of civil society. In particular, the role of majority rule is to mandate specific legislative policies and programs as they have the support of the bulk of the citizens.

Question 6

Consent is expressed by the act of an individual willingly joining others to form a community. While express consent means the individual has agreed to be subjected to the laws of that society, tacit consent is the measure of how much power the individual gives to that society over his life. Thus, even foreigners can be obligated to obey the laws of such a society because they use facilities that are under the jurisdiction of that government.

Question 7

The great and chief ends of people uniting into commonwealths are for property preservation. Actually, this stems from the fact that it is difficult to protect property in the state of nature due to the uneven power that each individual may exercise against an aggressor. It is better to create a uniform law outlining punishments.

Question 8

When people enter a society, they give up all the power of making laws to their representatives. However, the only limitation to the legislative or supreme power of the commonwealth is that the people’s consent has to be sought on all issues. It cannot rule arbitrarily, forcefully take one’s property or make the power of making rules transferable.

Question 9

The amount of separation of power between the legislature and the executive to create federalism is what determines the form the commonwealth takes.

Question 10

The extent of legislative power is governed by how much consent of the people it has and it is related to the natural law due to its mandate to preserve the society. Consequently, this power may be removed by a change in the composition of the assembly. The executive power is not superior since it is also subject to the same laws.

Question 10

Locke’s chapter on the right of revolution mirrors the declaration of Independence since it talks of people having certain God given rights, which the government cannot claim to offer to its citizens. This is a crucial part of the Declaration document. Still, it also analyses the various systems of federalism that gave rise to the union of different territories to form the United States.