This week’s Quote of the Fortnight concerns a line from John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government,” a foundational text that laid the foundation for American republican democracy. A proponent of social contract theory, John Locke gave us the ideas of life, liberty and property that Thomas Jefferson transformed into life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the American Declaration of Independence.

Here is this week’s selection:

“Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.”

(Quote Retrieved from Goodreads)

“JohnLocke” by Sir Godfrey Kneller – State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:JohnLocke.png#/media/File:JohnLocke.png