The Influence of John Locke's Political Philosophy on the Formation of a Revolutionary Spirit in America

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, course: American Literature: The American Revolution, language: English, abstract: The attempt of this paper is to examine how Locke's political philosophy influenced the thoughts and actions of the opponents of the British Crown during the American Revolution. In the American colonies the origin of political power structures and government were thought to be in contractual arrangements. Therefore, the idea of John Locke that it's the people's decision to enter into a society by a social contract was estimated by many colonists to be also the concept of government their ancestors had chosen to settle down in the New World. Even some historians saw the 'intellectual roots of resistance in the 'country' [...] as part and parcel of the Lockean Enlightenment'. So, one can conclude that Locke did have a great influence. Furthermore, the adaptation of Locke's ideas in the revolutionary documents showed that his philosophy served as justification for the colonists and with that the independence was justified, too.