From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector d) Why is the Right of Revolution an important feature of Liberalism? Another major contribution of John Locke to the Philosophy of Liberalism that gained acceptance as a basic tenet of Liberalism was the idea that under natural law, all people have the right to revolt when the government acted against the interests of its citizens, and replace it with a government that did. This right was an obligation and a safeguard against tyranny.7 In the American Declaration of Independence, Locke’s right to revolution was expressed in the following manner: That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed 32 to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. In the 1793 Revolutionary Constitution of France, the “Right to Rebel” tenet of Liberalism was embodied in the following articles: Article 33, “Resistance to oppression is the consequence of the other rights of man”; Article 34, that says if one is oppressed, everyone is; Article 27, “Let any person who may usurp the sovereignty be instantly put to death by free men”; and Article 35, “When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties.” 3. How did Liberalism spread and reach the Philippines? Liberals stood up to the challenge of stopping monarchism and papal tyranny. They formed an international brotherhood through a web of Masonic Lodges that were organized