Ideas about property and freedom from John Locke worked their way into America’s founding documents and influence the nation to this day. ... We’ve confused natural rights with social aspirations.

John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher and political theorist whose ideas helped lay the foundation for the ... He famously wrote that man has three natural rights: life, liberty, ...

In these great works, Locke refutes the divine right of kings and sets forth the nature of legitimate civil government, based on (what was at the time) the radical idea of natural rights and the ...

"Helping to secure [natural rights] in the world of 2213 may require the creation of lesser, instrumental rights by law or constitutional amendment that differ from the subsidiary rights of the U ...

Early Life and Education. Locke was born in England on Aug. 29, 1632. His father John, an attorney, and mother Agnes baptized him the morning of his birth and raised him as a Puritan.