Greece, Rome, and the Bill of Rights by Susan Ford Wiltshire Page A
Authors: Susan Ford Wiltshire
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proposed by Locke. 37
If our focus were on the history of the political thought underlying the body of the U.S. Constitution promulgated in 1787, Montesquieu would occupy a post of central importance. But for the genealogy of the natural rights
page_76
Page 76
theory leading to the Bill of Rights, we turn instead to John Locke.
The Achievement of John Locke
If Charles Dickens had written a novel along the lines of the present inquiry, his uncanny gift for diagnostic names could not have improved on that of the individual who enters the story next. Like a lock in a canal, which raises the water from one elevation to another, John Locke (16321704) elevated the status of individual rights for subsequent Western political theory. Thomas Erskine, in his speech in defense of Thomas Hardy in his trial for high treason, referred to Locke as "the man, next to Sir Isaac Newton of the greatest strength of understanding which the English, perhaps, ever had."
38
By temperament as well as experience and intellect, Locke was ideally suited for appropriation by American thinkers of the eighteenth century. His classical education, active engagement in politics, and intellectual brilliance formed him in ways readily adaptable to American thought. Locke's father, a liberal Puritan and attorney who had fought on the side of Parliament in the first rebellion against Charles I, inculcated in his son the values of simplicity, temperance, and tolerance. Locke studied classics, Hebrew, and Arabic, first at Westminster School, then at Oxford, where he developed an aversion to Scholastic philosophy while being exposed to many new forms of thinking, including empirical science and medicine.
After a period of lecturing in Latin, Greek, and moral philosophy, Locke became increasingly involved with the intellectual and political movements of his time. As an assistant to Lord Ashley, earl of Shaftesbury, he helped frame a constitution for the colony of Carolina. His service as secretary to the Council of Trade and Plantations was further evidence of his ability and ease in the world of practical politics. Prolonged visits to Paris and Holland introduced him to some of the leading thinkers of his period.
page_77
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His close association with Shaftesbury, who was tried for treason after leading the parliamentary opposition to the Stuarts, forced Locke to flee to Holland, where he wrote his first published works. He supported the successful revolution, which put William of Orange on the throne, then returned to England in 1689 escorting the future Queen Mary. From that time until shortly before his death, Locke served in various official and unofficial political capacities while writing voluminously on philosophy, religious toleration, education, and politics.
Locke's Opposition to Innate Ideas
Central to Locke's political thought was his philosophical opposition to the theory of innate ideas. Unlike Plato, he firmly believed that we derive our ideas from experience; no realm of ideas exists apart from the experience of human beings. Similarly, no general principles exist to which everyone gives assent. Locke did hold that there are eternal principles of morality, which human beings may come to through reason, experience, and reflection, but even these are not innate. There is no one truth of things, he would say; life is not neat. Locke's conviction on this point was so steadfast that he was willing to live with any theoretical inconsistencies that might follow on it for the sake of the common sense it permitted.
39
Locke broke through much of the prevailing thought about the human condition by holding that we are all "short-sighted." He came to understand that the only reliable thing that can be said about human knowledge is that it is, and can be, only partial. This simple truth has enormous consequences, because it means that any form of authoritarianism, whether intellectual or political, is based on the false premise that one person or
If our focus were on the history of the political thought underlying the body of the U.S. Constitution promulgated in 1787, Montesquieu would occupy a post of central importance. But for the genealogy of the natural rights
page_76
Page 76
theory leading to the Bill of Rights, we turn instead to John Locke.
The Achievement of John Locke
If Charles Dickens had written a novel along the lines of the present inquiry, his uncanny gift for diagnostic names could not have improved on that of the individual who enters the story next. Like a lock in a canal, which raises the water from one elevation to another, John Locke (16321704) elevated the status of individual rights for subsequent Western political theory. Thomas Erskine, in his speech in defense of Thomas Hardy in his trial for high treason, referred to Locke as "the man, next to Sir Isaac Newton of the greatest strength of understanding which the English, perhaps, ever had."
38
By temperament as well as experience and intellect, Locke was ideally suited for appropriation by American thinkers of the eighteenth century. His classical education, active engagement in politics, and intellectual brilliance formed him in ways readily adaptable to American thought. Locke's father, a liberal Puritan and attorney who had fought on the side of Parliament in the first rebellion against Charles I, inculcated in his son the values of simplicity, temperance, and tolerance. Locke studied classics, Hebrew, and Arabic, first at Westminster School, then at Oxford, where he developed an aversion to Scholastic philosophy while being exposed to many new forms of thinking, including empirical science and medicine.
After a period of lecturing in Latin, Greek, and moral philosophy, Locke became increasingly involved with the intellectual and political movements of his time. As an assistant to Lord Ashley, earl of Shaftesbury, he helped frame a constitution for the colony of Carolina. His service as secretary to the Council of Trade and Plantations was further evidence of his ability and ease in the world of practical politics. Prolonged visits to Paris and Holland introduced him to some of the leading thinkers of his period.
page_77
Page 77
His close association with Shaftesbury, who was tried for treason after leading the parliamentary opposition to the Stuarts, forced Locke to flee to Holland, where he wrote his first published works. He supported the successful revolution, which put William of Orange on the throne, then returned to England in 1689 escorting the future Queen Mary. From that time until shortly before his death, Locke served in various official and unofficial political capacities while writing voluminously on philosophy, religious toleration, education, and politics.
Locke's Opposition to Innate Ideas
Central to Locke's political thought was his philosophical opposition to the theory of innate ideas. Unlike Plato, he firmly believed that we derive our ideas from experience; no realm of ideas exists apart from the experience of human beings. Similarly, no general principles exist to which everyone gives assent. Locke did hold that there are eternal principles of morality, which human beings may come to through reason, experience, and reflection, but even these are not innate. There is no one truth of things, he would say; life is not neat. Locke's conviction on this point was so steadfast that he was willing to live with any theoretical inconsistencies that might follow on it for the sake of the common sense it permitted.
39
Locke broke through much of the prevailing thought about the human condition by holding that we are all "short-sighted." He came to understand that the only reliable thing that can be said about human knowledge is that it is, and can be, only partial. This simple truth has enormous consequences, because it means that any form of authoritarianism, whether intellectual or political, is based on the false premise that one person or
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