Human Rights Throughout History

Thesis: Throughout Western History, there has always been and will continue to be a struggle for improved human rights.

1600-1700 

Political/ Individual Right

Throughout the 1600's absolutism was a key concept; the idea that the monarchy has absolute power and that state should be centralized. Louis XIV and Peter were both perfect examples of absolutism as they believed that they were basically equal to God, and everyone else was to be dominated/controled. When Louis XIV wanted to build Versailles he was inconsiderate of the location, he wanted to build Versailles regardless of how horrible the situated area was, and in the process of building this dream place for Louis XIV; hundreds and thousands of people died. The people in the lower class (peasants) were treated unjustly, barely even paid for their work during this time period. Thus, this demonstrated the disregard for human life. In contrast, John Locke, a philosopher believed one should have freedom despite of their class. John Locke believed that an individual has the right to life, liberty and, property. Furthermore, the "Habeas Corpus" act was passed which promoted more human rights by enforcing that one has a right to have a formal charge against him/her rather than being thrown in jail for no actual cause. This was the start of the bill of rights (the strive for equality). Thus, as stated above people and events from the 1600's had fought for human rights, they (lower class) had to struggle in order for their lives to be considered a little valuable. Furthermore, Jean Jacques Rousseau promoted more rights as a citizen by introducing the general will through the social contract-this contract is a contract between society (citizens) and the government. The purpose of this contract was to mitigate the absolute power of the government, which empowers the people of society giving them more rights.

1800-1880

Economic Freedom/Rights

In the early 1800's economy was flourishing in England which meant more employment opportunities for citizens. Factories were in demand for more workers, they hired everyone that was able to work, including children. Companies abused their power by overworking their employees and also underpaying them in order to fulfill consumer demands. The employees and employers became more aware of these immoral factory conditions. The Saddler report was written to spread awareness and educate the rest of society of the harsh conditions in factories. Furthermore, the Factory Act was established to minimize the hours (40 hours/week) employees worked. John Stuart Mill believed the government should educate people about the working the conditions of the lower class, he was completely supportive towards human rights-he even supported woman's rights. However, the government during the 1800's was corrupted, and a demonstration of this corruption is when Jacques Louis David was paid by the government to paint an event that occurred but add characters that were not present. Later 1800's, a philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, disagreed with the amount of governments power is reinforced in peoples lives. He did not agree with the Americans invading Mexican land so he disobeyed civilly by simply not paying his taxes to the government, the taxes that supported the war between the Americans and Mexicans and because of his disobedience he was thrown in jail. Ultimately, people struggled (civil disobedience) for more rights-better working conditions (factory act).

1880-1945

Moreover, people died struggling for human rights. As a result of world war two, 6 million people died of their faith (Judaism) and this is a criminalizing a culture. This discriminating of culture was a "hope" to the German people because they were just involved in a war (WW1) that they lost. World war one was a war of imperialism. Great power countries just wanted more territories and out of greed the intensity grew that lead an assassination of a duke to start the first world war. During this time people blindly obeyed the government on matters that they were not completely knowledgeable about (this is why the art movement-Dada started). Furthermore, more people during the 1900's struggled because they did not have more rights that protected them. In 1920's the people of France and Great Britain had a strike (general strike) because employees were being treated unfairly, there was consumer demand and owners of factories disregarded their employees' lives and salaries. As a result of the General Strike workers gained rights in their workplace such as "the general will does not challenge the Constitution [...] The sole aim of the council is to secure for the miners a decent standard of life" (Haberman 359). All in all, these are just examples of the many struggles of gaining and recognizing the need for more improved human rights.

Post-45

In modern day society discrimination is still evident, there is evidence of segregation in the wealthier countries such as America. One recent case is the abuse of authority when a police officer killed a black man by shooting him 8 times. Here is a link to further demonstrate that the amount of shooting was unnecessary " Cop Shot Unarmed Man 8 times ". Just over a century ago Martin Luther King Jr took a part of the civil rights movement, people marched in protest of not being treated equally and justly. He argued that “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws” (443). Martin Luther King emphasizes that there are two types of laws, one being the just and the other unjust, Dr King stated that we should only obey laws that are just, and this suggests that there are existing unjust laws. Furthermore, even if there is a national law one should not abide by it if it is unjust, Dr. Martin suggests that there is a higher than law the law of your country and that is the law of humanity. Although we, as a society, have rights (universal rights)- we are still not guaranteed 100% equality, which goes to show that people still needs improved human rights that will further protect them as a society.


To conclude, human rights needs to be improved.

Work References

Powell, J. (2015). Life, Liberty, and Property: A Biography of John Locke | Libertarianism.org. Retrieved from http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/life-liberty-property-biography-john-locke

Haberman Textbook:
-  Modern Day
- The Western World