Since government has existed, philosophers have tried to understand its principals and purpose. One such philosopher, John Locke, wrote revolutionary political theories that led to governmental reform in the United States and in Britain. Although theories concerning a government-free existence, or "state of nature," were popular in Locke's time, he postulated along very different lines than others had, and came to the innovative conclusion that all people have certain "natural rights:" life, liberty, and property. Locke's idea of a social contract was revolutionary, too, which for the first time held the government responsible for the welfare of its subjects instead of the other way around. These aspects of Locke's philosophy, so extreme in his time, have since influenced and transformed civil government by acting as a model for liberal political philosophy.
John Locke's theory of natural rights is the basis of all of his other political ideas. Locke, in his Second Treatise of Government, attempted to explain government and describe attributes of legitimate governments. The best way to understand government, in his view, was to imagine what life was like before there was any, and to figure out why it was first created. This "state of nature"(or life before government) was used as an analytical device by Locke and others to determine the necessary functions of government. In the natural state, Locke says that man has a right to everything except "he has not liberty to destroy himself"(ST #4). What he is saying is that our predominate goal in life is survival, and our central means to this end is that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions"(ST #4). These are Locke's natural rights, and this is the core of his theory of government. .
These natural rights of Locke's became important ideas for many philosophers and politicians after him.
