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Example research essay topic: John Locke And Civil Rights Movement - 1,369 words

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John Locke and the Civil Rights Movement Would John Locke, a liberal thinker who advocates resistance to an unjust government, support the civil rights movement of the 1960 s? In his Second Treatise, the argument he presents in favor of government resistance suggests that he would support the nonviolent civil disobedience that constituted part of this movement. For, although Locke limits the cases in which resistance is possible, these limitations are not applicable to the civil rights movement. Moreover, he says that two conditions justify resistance to an unjust government. First, if the legislative alters or changes, the citizens have the right to resist the government. Second, if the legislative acts against the trust of the citizens by violating their natural rights, the citizens can resist the government.

This condition, to a greater extent than the first, shows that Locke would support the civil rights movement. For example, the "Jim Crow" laws that subordinated the African Americans illustrate an unlawful intrusion into natural rights; therefore, the African Americans have the right to resist these laws. This second condition is the crux of Locke's theoretical support of the civil rights movement. In order to understand Locke's argument in its entirety, we must first examine the limitations he puts on resisting government. Locke realizes that the right to resist a government may follow a slippery slope, leading a person to oppose a government because it causes minor grievances for him. He states that this unsubstantiated opposition creates "anarchy and confusion" (401).

Moreover, anyone who resists the government, except in cases of unjust and unlawful force, deserves a "just condemnation both from God and man" (402). Locke presents three cases in which the citizens do not have the right to dissolve or to resist the government. First, if the prince, or chief executive, of a country is sacred according to the laws, like the absolute monarch in France, then he is secure from all of the harm and violence of resistance. This ruler is the figurehead and the symbol of his country's stability. In such cases, the preservation of this divine ruler, despite the suffering of a few private men, is better for the country's well-being than civil disobedience (402). Second, Locke argues that the citizens do not have the right to resist the government if the injured party can improve his condition through an appeal to the law.

If the hostile force does not threaten the life of the oppressed citizen, then he must allow the law to act and to seek justice and not take matters into his own hands (403). To illustrate this point, Locke uses the example of an armed thief who demands money from an innocent man. If the thief does not threaten the innocent man's life and only demands money, then the innocent man must appeal to the law for retribution (403 - 404). However, Locke says that a hostile force that endangers the life of the oppressed citizen leads to a state of war, in which the citizen can resist and defend himself against this force (404).

This distinction between hostile force that endangers life and hostile force that does not endanger life is important, because it shows the line that Locke draws between just and unjust resistance. The third case that Locke presents to limit government resistance is the unwillingness of an oppressed minority or group of men to unite in opposition to the government. Locke believes that people are by nature politically passive and reluctant to overthrow political systems. He says that the oppressed few do not have the force or the sheer numbers to "disturb the government" and to resist effectively the well-settled state (404). The minority has the impossible task of opposing the government without the support of the public, which lacks any interest in resisting the government.

Locke states that the oppression of a small number of people does not justify government resistance because the majority of the public does not support this cause and the task of dissolving the government is nearly impossible (404). Based on this third case, one might present the objection that Locke would not support the civil rights movement because minority groups, such as the African Americans, do not have the power to resist or to dissolve the government, even if the state oppresses their rights to some extent. The objection claims that the civil rights movement did not include a majority of the American public and cannot be a legitimate or an effective form of political resistance. However, this objection is fallacious. The majority of the American public, including Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, supported the causes of the civil rights movement. The fight for equal rights was not just an African American issue but a national issue, as well; Americans of all different ethnic backgrounds showed their support for the movement.

Locke would endorse the civil rights movement for its defense of the African Americans' natural rights. This objection that Locke would not support the civil rights movement is invalid and based on fallacious assumptions. These three cases show the limitations that Locke puts on government resistance. While he defends resistance in cases of unjust and unlawful forces that violate natural rights, Locke provides guidelines that restrict this right to opposition. These guidelines prevent the anarchy and confusion of a constantly changing and dissolving state and contribute to the stability of the government (401). He realizes that the dissolution of the government is not a common occurrence; however, he insists that the citizens do possess the right to resist authority in order to protect their natural rights (406).

The right to dissolve a tyrannical and unjust government is a key component to Locke's liberal theory and justifies his support of the civil rights movement. According to Locke, the first condition of dissolving or resisting a government's authority is if the legislative alters or changes. He says that the legislative includes three political bodies: a supreme executive, an assembly of nobility, and an assembly of representatives (407). Locke believes that altering the legislative body destroys the fundamental bonds of society and government. He states that the legislative unites the people of a commonwealth, and if this legislative breaks or alters, then "dissolution and death follow" (408). Locke asserts that the people mutually consented to establish a distinct legislative that represents the common will, but an altering and unstable political body cannot adequately represent this common will.

The citizens have the right to resist the legislative authority that changes and fails to uphold their natural rights (407). How does one change the legislative? Locke answers this question by proposing four ways to alter a legislative body. First, a prince or supreme executive who replaces the law with his own self-interest changes the legislative. A prince who introduces new laws without the consent of the community overthrows the legislative and establishes a new political authority based on these self-interested laws (408 - 409).

Second, the supreme executive hindering the legislative from meeting or fulfilling its duties alters the legislative. Locke says the elimination of the legislative body's freedom to assemble destroys its political authority and puts an end to this government (409). The third way to alter the legislative occurs when the prince or the supreme executive changes the election process, contrary to the common will of the people. This new election process creates an illegitimate legislative because it alters the people's power to elect representatives without their consent (409). The final way to alter the legislative that Locke mentions is the subjection of the people to a foreign power.

He says that the authority of a foreign power expels the political independence and eliminates the legislative body of a nation (409 - 410). In Locke's argument, these four ways alter the legislative and justify the dissolution of government. Altering the legislative in the sense that Locke intended is not directly related to his theoretical support of the civil rights movement. The injustice that the African Americans faced did not stem from changes within the American government but instead the failure to protect natural rights.

The President did not alter the election process, and a foreign nation did not seize political authority. However, the civil rights strong...


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