John Locke: Causes Of The American Revolution

Words: 900
Pages: 4

The American Revolution was caused by the increasing number of restrictions placed upon the colonies by the British. These British acts only benefited Great Britain and not the colonies, which greatly angered the colonist. After the French and Indian War, King George the III was left with massive amounts of war debt. As as result, the British were only concerned with making as much money off the colonies as they could, in order to pay off this debt and imposed taxes on the colonies without their consent. In addition, the colonist had boycotted all British goods. John Locke was very influential and believed that people had natural rights to life, liberty, and property and the government was to persevere these rights for the people. Locke’s liberal influence can also be seen in the Stamp Act and the Declaration of Independence. In addition, the Stamp Act and the Declaration of Independence were historical causes of the American Revolution as well. In the Second Treatise on Government; John Locke states that the government gets the right to rule from the people. Locke …show more content…
“Adopted on July 2 which asserted that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be, free and independent states,” (Declaration). You can see throughout the declaration that our founders had many of the same ideas as John Locke and liberal views that were all for the people. For example, in the Final text of the Declaration of Independence, it states: “We hold theses truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” (Declaration). The Declaration of Independence was for the people, in order to protect the people and their natural rights as humans. Which was heavily influenced by John Locke and his beliefs of