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Which natural rights did John Locke believe people possessed before government existed?
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social contract
Thomas Hobbes, detail of an oil painting by John Michael Wright; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In his political philosophy, John Locke argued that in the state of natureâa hypothetical condition existing before the formation of governmentâall individuals are naturally free and equal under the law of nature.123
Locke believed that all human beings are endowed with three fundamental natural rights that precede the establishment of civil society:
- Life: The right to exist and be free from harm by others.34
- Liberty: The right to freedom from arbitrary rule and the ability to act within the bounds of natural law.34
- Property: The right to own what one has produced through their own labor.534
Locke maintained that these rights are inherent to individuals as human beings. When people enter into a social contract to form a government, they do not surrender these rights; rather, they delegate to the state the specific power to enforce and protect them. If a government fails to secure these natural rights, it loses its legitimacy, and the people retain the right to revolution.43