John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Americas Founding Fathers, Western Culture

Western culture holds that a proper government is not the ruler of the citizens, but their servant. John Locke and America’s Founding Fathers are history's greatest advocates of this view of government.

John Locke (1632-1704)
The ideas of English philosopher John Locke strongly influenced America’s Founding Fathers. His ideas on the nature of rights and the proper role of government continue today to inspire people living under oppressive governments.

In The Second Treatise of Government, he chiefly explains how individuals have certain natural rights. And he explains how government is instituted by the consent of those governed for the purpose of protecting these rights. The power of government, according to Locke, must be limited to this function for the government to be legitimate.

And Locke holds that a government that fails to protect rights or uses its power to violate rights may be justifiably overthrown by the citizens and replaced by a new, legitimate government. The Second Treatise of Government remains a mostly clear and understandable work to this day.

The Second Treatise of Government is online and available free here.

Founding Fathers of the United States
The greatness of America’s Founding Fathers is that they did not regard the ideas and values of Western culture to be mere theory, to be simply debated and discussed. The Founding Fathers were, in addition to being intellectuals, men of bold and courageous action. Despite enormous odds, they created the only nation in history to be founded upon Western ideas and values.

With the unprecedented success of the United States, the Founding Fathers proved to the whole world for all time, and in the most spectacular way possible, that Western ideas and values are not just noble in theory—they are noble in practice, capable of improving people’s lives in every respect.

The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, which were created by America’s Founding Fathers, are the most advanced and progressive political documents in world history.

The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence dissolves all political connection with Great Britain and establishes the self-rule of the United States. The creation of this new government is justified on the grounds that a legitimate government exists to protect individual rights, and when it fails to do so the citizens have the right to alter or abolish the government and create a new, proper one.

The Declaration of Independence is online and available free here.

The Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States sets forth the means by which a legitimate government operates. The purpose of the Constitution is to limit and restrict the power of government to the role of protecting individual rights.

The Constitution provided unprecedented freedom for a large portion of the population and established principles that would make possible the eventual freedom of all citizens, regardless of race and gender.

The political and economic freedom provided by the Constitution has been instrumental in making the United States the greatest nation in history.

The United States Constitution is online and available free here.