The manifestos behind the world you live in
Your vote, your land title, your right to school and your weekend off all began as an argument in a book. Tap a thinker or an idea to see how they connect.
Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679 | ||||||
John Locke 1632 – 1704 | ||||||
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778 | ✕ | ✕ | ||||
Adam Smith 1723 – 1790 | ||||||
Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 – 1797 | ||||||
Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804 | ✕ | |||||
Karl Marx 1818 – 1883 | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | |||
Hans Morgenthau 1904 – 1980 | ✕ |
John Locke
Everyone has natural rights to life, liberty and property; a government that breaks them can be overthrown.
“Every man has a property in his own person.”
Liberalism · Built it
Often called the father of liberalism: consent, rights and limited government.
Capitalism · Built it
'Mixing your labour' with land makes it yours — the moral case for private property.
Feminism · Shaped it
He argued against absolute power of fathers, but left women's equality unfinished.
Constitutions, limits on power, and the US Declaration of Independence.
Property rights and freedom of conscience in almost every bill of rights.
Private land titles, fences and the belief that hard work earns ownership.