John Locke
1632-1704
Born in Bristol in 1632, and educated at Oxford, Locke became an influential political philosopher. His work concerning liberty and the social contract heavily influenced the founders of the American Republic.
Locke believed humans could be governed by reason and tolerance. He also wrote that property is a natural right derived from labor and defended the right to revolution.
Among his most famous works are his Two Treaties on Government, which he wrote to defend the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and A Letter Concerning Toleration, which concerned the relationship between religion and government and argued for toleration of various Christian denominations.
Locke died in 1704. He neither married nor had children.
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