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... om munities emerge and ultimately the political common-wealth of John Locke is achieved. With property and the settling of families in a defined region, humans are able to enter the common-wealth society with structures that are rooted in the basic natural equality of persons. Locke defines the common-wealth as: not a democracy, or any form of government, but any independent community. This common-wealth, (whether a monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, etc) is constructed when: any number of men are so united into one society, as to quit every one his executive power of the law of nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is a political, or civil society.
These people shift from the state of nature into this civil society, with the purpose of protecting all its citizens and the property they possess. But because no political society can be, nor subsist, without having in itself the power to preserve the property and there only is political society, where every one of the members hath quitted this natural power, resigned it up into the hands of the community The protection of property - the purpose of the common-wealth, is a direct result of the natural equality that all people possess, for they have a right to property. In order to protect these properties, they give up some freedoms in the state of nature to the common-wealth government. However, in order to serve the public that submits their inalienable right, the political structure of the common-wealth must be stable and effective. John Locke, in the Second Treatise, outlines the structure of government that best suits the people who give up natural freedoms, such as the pursuit of justice, to accumulate and secure property. All forms of common-wealth have an identical purpose.
The function of the government is to preserve the property of the equal citizens. This is achieved through the establishment and enforcement of civil laws. And this puts men out of a state of nature into that of a common-wealth, by setting up a judge on earth, with authority to determine all the controversies and redress the injuries that may happen to any member of the common-wealth. When man is in the state of nature, they are governed only by natural laws.
If anyone defies these laws, the victim exacts a proportional response to the offense. However, in Locke's common-wealth, civil laws exist to protect the property of the citizenry. Furthermore, it is the government that prosecutes violators of these laws, as opposed to the victim personally seeking reparations. Thus the purpose of the government in the common-wealth is to protect the property of its citizens through the establishment of civil laws.
As such, an understanding of Locke's system of government that best accomplishes this can be discussed. According to Locke, the most vital organ in the government of his political society is the legislative. The legislative, as a result of the assembling of persons in the state of nature, must represent the concerns of all it citizens, or at least the majority since it is impossible to please every person. The legislative is not only the supreme power of the common-wealth, but sacred and unalterable in the hands where the community have once placed it; nor can any edict of any body else have the force and obligation of a law which the public has chosen and appointed: for without this the law could not have the consent of society. Thus, the legislative, acting on behalf of the citizens, create laws for their benefit. No random person or faction can appear and promulgate new laws and expect them to be obeyed, unless the legislative is removed or altered.
Laws must originate from the institution that is under the employ of the citizens to create these laws. However, the power of the legislative is not absolute or arbitrary. Locke writes in the Second Treatise that the legislative is a construct of equal persons. Therefore, when the legislative exercises its power and creates laws, it must maintain the equality of all citizens. Thus, it cannot be absolute or arbitrary. For it [the legislative] being but the joint power of every member of the society given up to that person, or assembly, which is legislator; it can be no more than those persons had in the state of nature before they entered into society, and give up to the community: for no body can transfer to another more power than he has in himself The legislative can not wield power that is greater than an individual, even when they exist in the state of nature.
A prime example of the aforementioned concerns property: The supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without his own consent: for the preservation of property being the end of government, and that for which men enter into society, it necessarily supposes that people should have property Humans in Locke's common-wealth are equipped with the natural right to hold property. Thus, they cannot lose their property, even to the government, unless consent is given by the public. Although the legislative wing of the government is described as the supreme power because of its role in protecting the equality of all citizens in the Second Treatise, there is another power that is necessary: the executive. The executive has a different role in the government.
Although it is subordinate to the legislative, it is just as important nonetheless. Locke states in this text that the executive continually enforces the laws that the legislative creates. Therefore it is necessary there should be a power always in being, which should see to the execution of the laws that are made and remain in force. Locke also writes of federative powers that are usually united with the executive, with the hope that decisions by this person or persons are done in the best interests of the citizens.
This therefore contains the power of war and peace, leagues and alliances, and all the transactions, with all persons and communities without the common-wealth. With these distinct responsibilities and powers, the executive is an important part of Locke's political society. It must be stressed that, similar to the legislative, the executive is subordinate to the laws of the common-wealth. Since everyone is naturally equal in the state of nature; all persons fall under the laws and must maintain that natural equality in a civil society. No man in civil society can be exempted from the laws of it. Although, the natural equality of the common-wealth is maintained, there are times where that equality may not be as readily seen.
Locke, in his section of the Second Treatise of Government regarding the executive, makes a concession whereby the executive can act against the laws or if no law exists for a particular situation, as long as it is for the greater public good. This is described as the executive having prerogative. The power to act according to discretion, for the public good, without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it, is that which is called prerogative. Therefore, the executive has the responsibility of enforcing the laws of the legislative and acting in its stead when it is necessary.
One can find this prerogative in todays societies with emergency measures that invest greater authority to the executive in times of crisis. As stated before, all of this is executed for the good of the equal citizens who give up their natural right in the state of nature in order to be protected. As a result, John Locke's theory of equality permeates humanity's progression from the state of nature, into the family unit as it gains property and concluding in the common-wealth. In the Second Treatise, Locke writes that each person has a natural right not to be ruled by another person and to accrue property, unless it is freely waived. In the state of nature, this natural egalitarian lifestyle allows for the accumulation of property for survival. But it does not guarantee protection.
Thus, man travels out of the state of nature into a civil society in order to safeguard that equality and property. John Locke, in his treatise, attempts to help readers find a political society whereby people are equal and can not be subjugated by some foreign power. The exemplification of Locke's political theorizing is the United States of America. This country is based on Locke's fundamental principles that all people (in the United States) are created equal and that they have a right to life, liberty and property. However, all political systems, including the aforementioned, are far from perfect. Yet, Locke understands and writes about the changes that are happening and will happen during the 18 th Century and onwards.
It provides a stable and effective form of governance as parts of the world shift out of the Medieval, monarchical times and into the Modern, Technological and Republican Era.
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Research essay sample on What Is Equality In John Locke Second Treatise
