American founding and its legacies

John Locke 'Second Treatise of Government' and John Winthrop 'Model of Christian Charity' Compared and Contrasted

The objective of this study is to compare and contrast John Locke's work 'Second Treatise of Government' and John Winthrop's 'Model of Christian Charity' and to answer whether Locke and Winthrop believe that human beings are equal and in what ways are they equal or not equal. This study will answer as to what conclusions Winthrop and Locke draw from their understandings of equality about both structure and purpose of government.

Winthrop

John Winthrop, in his work 'A Model of Christian Charity' holds that God created man to be both poor and rich so that man would realize his need for one another and so that man would be "knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection" however, he holds that "no man is made more honorable than another or more wealthy than another…out of any particular and singular respect for himself" but instead all are made for the glory of God and the common good of mankind. (Winthrop, 1630) According to Winthrop there are two specific rules that man is to follow and those rules are the rules of: (1) Justice; and (2) Mercy. (1630)

There is also stated by Winthrop to be a 'double Law' that regulates man in his interaction with others and those are the: (1) Law of Nature; and (2) the Law of Grace or the moral law and the law of the gospel. The law of Nature is such that deems that man should love his neighbor as himself and Winthrop states that this is the basis of "all precepts of the moral law" regarding man's dealing with others. (1630)

II. Locke

John Locke writes in his work 'Two Treatises of Government' that since Adam did not have "either by natural right of fatherhood, or by positive donation from God" authority over his children or over the world then it goes to reason that it is not possible that rulers in the world "should make any benefit or derive any the least shadow of authority from that which is held to be the fountain of all power." (1632-1704) Locke holds that political power, which gives those in power the right to make laws and the punishments for those laws, is vested only with that which results in the public good. Locke holds that all men are "naturally in…a state of perfect freedom to order their actions" and that all men are created equal. (1632-1704)

Even though some have advantages over others they are still duty bound to "love others than themselves; for seeing those things which are equal, must needs all have one measure." (1632-1704) Locke held that all men have liberty to do what he will with his own possessions but that man does not have the freedom to destroy himself or anyone else. According to Locke man is born with a natural liberty that means he should be free from subordination to any "superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule." (1632-1704)

Man's liberty in society is such that should not be ruled by a legislative power but instead "by consent, in the commonwealth…what the legislative shall enact, according to the trust put in it." (Locke, 1632-1704) Freedom from power that is "absolute, arbitrary" is deemed by Locke to be required and "closely joined with a man's preservation, that he cannot part with it, but by what forfeits his preservation and life together" and that man is not to become a slave through his own consent or the power of others. (1632-1704) According to Locke, God gave the world to all men and because of this all men have the right to make the best use of the earth and its contents to "support and comfort" themselves. Locke holds that no one person or group has a larger right or a right of private dominion that is "exclusive of the rest of mankind." (1632-1704)

III. Differences in Locke and Winthrop