Thomas Hobbes Vs. John Locke's human nature

Locke vs. Hobbes

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” So begins the Declaration of Independence, as articulated by Thomas Jefferson. One needs only do a cursory reading of both this document and political philosopher John Locke’s Two Treatises on Civil Government to see the profound effect Locke’s ideas of man’s nature, his right to form his own government, and his right to rebel had on the men who founded the American republic. Britain, in the span of only forty or so years, produced two men, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, who had very different views of man. These two philosophers represent two disparate perspectives of government and liberty: Hobbes an authoritarian regime with limits on man’s rights and freedoms; Locke representative governance with careful protection of the rights that h...