WORLD HISTORY

HISTORY

ABSOLUTISM AND REVOLUTION

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Which writer opposed political absolutism?
A
Niccolò Machiavelli
B
James I
C
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
D
John Locke
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political liberty, and the property of the individual. Montesquieu opposed the absolute monarchy of his home country and favored the English system as the best model of government.

Detailed explanation-2: -It is morally impossible, Locke argued, for individuals to consensually establish absolute rule over themselves. That would be to transfer to rulers a power that is not ours, but God’s alone: ownership of our lives.

Detailed explanation-3: -Why did John Locke oppose the idea of an absolute monarch running a county’s government? Because someone with unlimited authority that could make arbitrary decisions was very unlikely to protect people’s natural rights.

Detailed explanation-4: -In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government. He uses a theory of natural rights to argue that governments have obligations to their citizens, have only limited powers over their citizens, and can ultimately be overthrown by citizens under certain circumstances.

Detailed explanation-5: -While absolute sovereignty belongs to God, Locke argued, relative sovereignty, separated into ‘’potential” and ‘’actual” sovereignty, is vested in the community on the grounds of the Edenic testament with God.

Detailed explanation-6: -Often credited as a founder of modern “liberal” thought, Locke pioneered the ideas of natural law, social contract, religious toleration, and the right to revolution that proved essential to both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution that followed.

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