Locke, John (1632–1704)

KNOWN AS THE “father of classical liberalism” and often called the “unofficial Founding Father of the U.S. Constitution,” John Locke was born in Somerset, England, to John and Agnes Keene Locke. At an early age, John's father, an attorney, exposed him to liberal and radical ideas and issues that challenged the status quo of 17th-century England. In 1646, Locke enrolled as an undergraduate at Oxford University's Christ Church College, where he became a tutor. In 1649, Locke published his Essays on the Law of Nature, and the following year he accepted the position of censor of moral philosophy at Oxford. Obeying his need as an empiricist to explain the physical world, Locke opened an experimental lab with David Thomas while at Oxford. The following year, ...