Enlightenment Figures
... also felt strongly about popular sovereignty and “majority rule”. John Locke said that by living in a society you give your consent to the government, which is a trustee that can only do what it is authorized to do by the common people. Locke felt that the government should be limited and have separation of powers. He split the government into three branches, the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the federative (foreign affairs) branch. Locke felt that the legislative branch should be the most important of the three. However, Locke never mentioned anything about a “checks and balances” system between the three branches. John Locke did not say much about minority rights and some people believe that Locke was against them. He also believed that people had the right to revolt after a “long train of abuses”. John Locke was one of the great enlightenment figures and was a great influence on the founding of the United States. Jean-Jacques Rosseau was another great enlightenment figure, but was often misunderstood. Communists loved Rosseau for his writing Discourse on the Origins of Inequality in which he blamed private property for bringing on inequality within societies. Locke saw freedom as a responsibility, and that we were not to be irresponsible with our freedom. Rosseau believed that in a society, one surrenders his natural rights and no longer has no individual rights but becomes a part in the general society and suggested violence against those who opposed joining “the social contract”. Rosseau tended to be very totalitarian in his ideas, and believed that the state was absolute because it expresses the common interest of the people. He believed that the government should either be a ruler with absolute power, a small city-state based on a federal model or an elective monarchy that had essentially no rights for the common people. Rosseau was very totalitarian in his political ideas and believed that the individual should become part of the whole. Baron de Montesquieu was a “moderate reformer” and wanted revisions rather than total change. Montesquieu defined liberty as “doing whatever the law permits” basically being able to do whatever you want until you begin to infringe on the rights of others. He believed that the form of government should depend on the circumstances of that nation. However, Montesquieu also believed that each natio...