This paper discusses John Locke’s theory of representative government and its applicable to the American colonies and the forming of the American government during the Revolution.
Rebellion against the existing authority (Stuart Monarchy) in England, during the late seventeenth century, necessarily opened up avenues of political theory to explain the government’s existence (in terms of its origin and purpose), and to suggest possible alternatives of government rule. Of the most prominent enlightened political theorists that appeared on the scene, John Locke captured the idea of the freedom and equality of Men, and theorized their special relation to government in his coherent rational work, Two Treatises on Government. Though his Two Treatises served its purpose, in demanding and justifying the need for revolution (which occurred in 1689, establishing a Constitutional Monarchy), it was not confined to this purpose. It had philosophical aspirations as well as policy (i.e., a …