ught became the starting point of what was later inferred to as modernity. Locke's ideas were a reaction to the political state of affairs present during pre-industrial England. He was disconcerted by the plight of average citizens who suffered under England's absolute monarchy. The poor exercised no rights and were essentially ruled by the "few," the select ruling class. Locke considered the practice of a few individuals, by virtue of their birth, exercising political power over the many as irrational. To discredit the practice, Locke penned a series of essays that gave rise to modern liberalism.
             The cornerstone of Lockian beliefs is that all humans, regardless of family status, are born equal. All men are in perfect freedom in the state of nature in which equal natural rights and equal freedom prevail. In "The State of War," Locke strikes out against the ruling class, condemning it as morally unacceptable. He reasons that, because everyone has innate rights, it is immoral for any individual to exercise his will and power over someone else. In The Law of Nature, Locke discusses natural laws and contends that all laws must be moral. He argues that the state of nature has an ethical set of ideal laws (i.e., natural laws) to govern it, under which no one has the right to harm another. The state of nature is a state of existence in which the effects of government and external institutions are absent. Natural laws are an invisible set of norms and rules that represent political morality. Locke holds that everyone in the state of nature is bound preserve himself, individually and collectively. This became the first premise of liberalism.
             In his Second Treatise of Government, Locke addresses how to deal with and organize political life. Locke was compelled to address these issues namely because of the Protestant Revolution and absolute monarchy. Locke envisions a society in which people hav...