Locke and Nathan Tarcov

¶ … Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Locke's views on social contracts. Specifically it will discuss the structure of law according to Locke and how King's views on civil disobedience and how they related to Locke's views. Both men talk about the types of laws and whether they are social contracts, along with our obligation under law.

John Locke believed laws were central to a civil society, and in fact, they defined civil society. He wrote, "Those who are united into one body, and have a common established law and judicature to appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between them, and punish offenders, are in civil society one with another" (Locke 3). He also believed that no one should be exempt from the laws, or a civil society would not exist. Laws are created when civil society elects representatives, who pass laws that act for the entire community. These representatives have a duty to represent the whole society when they create these laws.

Locke also believed that people were free to stand up against their ruler, monarch, or leader of government and form a new government if they felt it was necessary. He writes, "And thus the consent of freemen, born under government, which only makes them members of it, being given separately in their turns, as each comes to be of age, and not in a multitude together" Locke 10). He believes that people can live in society and not actually be members of that society, because they have not actually joined in and become a real part of the society. Author Tarcov notes, "Entering into society means entering into a society that has a government or legislative; that is its purpose and its definition" (Tarcov 205). He also believed that rebellion was often necessary to correct governmental issues.

His reasoning for his belief in laws is that civil society is necessary for the overall good of the people, and laws help create a civil society. He also reasons that people will regulate themselves relatively effectively if they follow the lead of a leader or monarch, and that they will revolt if they are ill-treated. Author Tarcov continues, '"The people will always resist when they are 'generally ill-treated' and find the opportunity. This inevitable resistance is compatible with their peculiar slowness: the people feel the faults but do not know how to cure them" (Tarcov 212). In that, it seems that Locke would have totally agreed with King's message of civil disobedience to gain support for Civil Rights. It got the public's attention and brought the plight of African-Americans into the national spotlight. They were "generally ill-treated," and by resisting, they finally got the Civil Rights Act passed and ended segregation in this country.

Of course, we have obligations to follow the laws, but we have obligations to do what is right, too. Not everything under the law makes it right, and we have a moral obligation to right the wrongs, like unjust laws against black men and women. Those were laws that society had created, but not all of society agreed with them, and they were not just laws, they were laws that subjugated one at their expense. This helps show that not all laws are just or desirable, and that people have to speak up and take a stand for the overall good of the entire civil society.