John Locke In 1689, John Locke wrote that individuals had the right to "life" and "liberty." It was a new and radical idea. Locke had been born into a world ruled by absolute kings. He had lived through a bloody civil war and a glorious revolution. Locke was a quiet man, a thinker, not a fighter. Yet he became one of the greatest revolutionaries the world has ever known. His ideas spread across the world and... Full description