John Locke Global Essay Prize 2026 History Prompts Breakdown

The John Locke Institute has just released the prompts for their international essay writing competitions for high school students. They have released three prompts for each of the following categories, philosophy, politics, economics, history, law, psychology, and theology. Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration).

To be eligible to compete, one's 19th birthday must fall after 31 May, 2026. Given this easily satisfied requirement for high school students the world over, many compete in this competition, making it incredibly competitive.

The John Locke Competition is one of the most prestigious essay writing competitions for high school students. It ranks alongside the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards as a humanities extracurricular activity that would impress admissions officers. Placing competitively in this competition could be what convinces an admissions officer at an elite university to admit an applicant.

One major difference between the John Locke competition and the Scholastic Writing and Arts Awards is that it has a right-wing, instead of a left-wing focus. Past winning essays have argued for fringe ideas like anarcho-capitalism. The John Locke Institute is committed to upholding the principles of classical liberalism espoused by John Locke, the founder of liberalism. Being liberal in Europe has a different connotation than it does in the U.S. While liberalism in the U.S. is associated with center-left politics like the Democratic Party, in Europe, it denotes what Americans would call libertarians, who believe in laissez-faire economic policies and upholding individual freedom to the point that it might enable individuals to infringe on the liberties of others, such as individuals having the right to deny service to people at their place of business due to their sexual orientation.

Despite the competition's right-wing focus, and the well-known left-wing bias of academics and admissions officers, high school students can place competitively without arguing for positions that would decrease their likability with a left-wing audience when applying to college.

We have extensive experience guiding applicants through this competition and are proud to have students who received at least a commendation from the judges. In this article, we will outline the three history questions they ask and provide resources, along with cliff notes for these resources, to help start one's journey towards drafting compelling answers to these questions.

History Q1: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Is it? Does it?

John Locke's Works

1. Two Treatises of Government (1689)

• Chapter II establishes natural law and natural rights as universal moral truths

• Chapter XIX argues tyranny inevitably falls when it violates natural law

• Suggests moral order exists and will ultimately prevail

• Provides framework for believing justice has structural advantages over injustice

2. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

• Book I argues against innate ideas, moral knowledge must be discovered through reason

• Book IV examines how moral knowledge can be as certain as mathematical knowledge

• Suggests moral truths are discoverable and objective, not merely conventional

• Relevant for examining whether "justice" has objective content

3. A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

• Argues religious persecution is ultimately self-defeating

• Suggests truth has inherent advantages over error in open competition

• Framework for believing just ideas will eventually triumph

4. The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)

• Discusses providential history and God's purposes in human affairs

• Examines relationship between revelation and rational morality

• Relevant for theological interpretations of historical progress

Historical Resources

1. Theodore Parker's "Of Justice and the Conscience" (1853)

• Original source of the "arc of the moral universe" quotation

• Abolitionist sermon arguing slavery's inevitable demise

• Parker: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe... but I can see it bends toward justice"

• Essential context for understanding the phrase's origin and meaning

2. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches and writings (1955-1968)

• Popularized Parker's phrase in civil rights movement

• "How Long, Not Long" speech (1965) uses the quotation

• "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) discusses moral arc implicitly

• King's theology of history essential for understanding the claim

3. G.W.F. Hegel's "Lectures on the Philosophy of History" (1837)

• Argues history is the progress of the consciousness of freedom

• "World history is the progress of the consciousness of freedom"

• Provides philosophical foundation for progressive view of history

• Influential framework for believing history has direction

4. Immanuel Kant's "Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose" (1784)

• Argues nature has a plan for human development toward rational society

• "Unsocial sociability" drives progress despite individual intentions

• Framework for believing progress occurs through unintended consequences

• Influential Enlightenment philosophy of history

5. Augustine's "City of God" (426)

• Christian philosophy of history as movement toward divine justice

• Distinguishes earthly city from city of God

• Argues ultimate justice comes only at end of history

• Framework for qualified belief in moral progress

6. Edward Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1776-1789)

• Documents how civilizations decline as well as progress

• Challenges simple progressive narratives

• Shows moral and cultural regression is historically common

• Counterexample to assumptions of inevitable progress

Contemporary Resources

1. Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature" (2011) and "Enlightenment Now" (2018)

• Comprehensive empirical case that violence has declined over history

• Documents improvements in human welfare across multiple dimensions

• Argues Enlightenment values have produced measurable moral progress

• Most influential contemporary defense of moral progress thesis

2. John Gray's "Straw Dogs" (2002) and "The Silence of Animals" (2013)

• Argues belief in moral progress is Christian myth secularized

• Critiques Enlightenment assumptions about human improvement

• Contends humans are not fundamentally different from other animals

• Sophisticated philosophical rejection of progress thesis

3. Amartya Sen's "The Idea of Justice" (2009)

• Argues justice is achieved through comparative improvements, not ideal endpoints

• Provides framework for understanding progress without teleology

• Discusses how injustice can be recognized and reduced over time

• Nuanced approach between optimism and pessimism

4. Yuval Noah Harari's "Sapiens" (2011) and "Homo Deus" (2016)

• Examines long-term patterns in human history

• Neither simply progressive nor regressive interpretation

• Discusses how meanings of "justice" have changed historically

• Framework for questioning whether "justice" has stable meaning

5. Timothy Snyder's "Bloodlands" (2010) and "Black Earth" (2015)

• Documents 20th-century atrocities in Eastern Europe

• Challenges assumptions that modernity prevents barbarism

• Shows how progress in some dimensions accompanied moral catastrophe

• Complicates simple narratives of moral improvement

6. Samuel Moyn's "The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History" (2010)

• Argues human rights emerged recently, not as inevitable progress

• Shows how contingent historical circumstances shaped rights regimes

• Challenges teleological interpretations of justice expanding

• Historicizes what seems like moral progress

7. Alasdair MacIntyre's "After Virtue" (1981)

• Argues Enlightenment project of rational morality has failed

• Contends we lack shared moral framework to define "justice"

• Suggests moral progress is illusory because moral concepts have fragmented

• Sophisticated philosophical challenge to progress thesis

Key Questions and Issues to Address

Definitional Challenges

• Whose definition of "justice" should we use to measure progress?

• Does the metaphor of an "arc" imply inevitability or merely tendency?

• How does Locke's natural law framework define justice differently than contemporary views?

Theoretical Frameworks

• Is belief in moral progress a secularized religious faith (Gray)?

• Can we have moral progress without teleology (Sen)?

• Does Locke's philosophy support optimism about moral progress?

Historical Evidence

• Does declining violence (Pinker) constitute evidence for the claim?

• How should we weigh 20th-century atrocities against longer-term improvements?

• Is there selection bias in how we perceive historical patterns?

Scope and Scale

• Is the "arc" supposed to describe all of history or only recent centuries?

• Does moral progress in some domains coexist with regression in others?

• How should we weigh local regressions against global trends?

Causation and Mechanism

• If the arc bends toward justice, what mechanism causes this?

• Is moral progress the result of structural forces or contingent choices?

• What role do individual actors play in bending or straightening the arc?

Practical Implications

• Does belief in inevitable progress encourage complacency?

• Is the belief necessary for sustained moral effort, or does it undermine urgency?

• How should uncertainty about progress affect our actions?

History Q2: What might the world look like if the Library of Alexandria didn't burn down?

John Locke's Works

1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

• Book IV examines how knowledge accumulates and is transmitted

• Discusses dependence of knowledge on education and access to ideas

• Relevant for considering how preserved texts might have accelerated knowledge

• Framework for understanding relationship between information preservation and progress

2. Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)

• Discusses importance of access to knowledge for human development

• Examines how education shapes individual and social outcomes

• Relevant for considering educational effects of preserved ancient knowledge

3. Two Treatises of Government (1689)

• Discusses relationship between knowledge, reason, and political development

• Argues rational individuals can discover natural law

• Relevant for considering whether preserved philosophy might have changed political history

Historical Resources

1. Ptolemaic sources on the Library

• Strabo's "Geography" (7 BCE) describes the Library and Museum

• Describes scholarly community and research activities

• Primary source on what the Library actually contained and accomplished

2. Ancient accounts of the Library's destruction

• Multiple destruction events: Caesar's fire (48 BCE), Aurelian (270s CE), Theophilus (391 CE), Arab conquest (642 CE)

• Scholarly debate about which events caused significant losses

• Essential for understanding what was actually lost and when

3. Luciano Canfora's "The Vanished Library" (1989)

• Scholarly history of the Library and its destruction

• Examines myths versus historical reality

• Argues destruction was gradual decline, not single catastrophe

• Essential background for addressing the question accurately

4. Ancient texts known only through fragments or references

• Lost works of Aristotle (dialogues, esoteric works)

• Lost Greek tragedies (only 32 of 1,000+ survive)

• Lost histories (Ctesias, Hecataeus, Ephorus)

• Demonstrates what kinds of knowledge were lost

5. Roger Bacon's "Opus Majus" (1267)

• Medieval scholar lamenting lost ancient knowledge

• Shows medieval awareness of what had been lost

• Demonstrates how partial recovery of ancient texts transformed medieval thought

6. The Islamic Golden Age preservation efforts

• House of Wisdom in Baghdad preserved and translated Greek texts

• Shows alternative path of knowledge preservation

• Demonstrates how much was preserved despite Alexandria's loss

• Complicates simple "what if" narratives

Contemporary Resources

1. Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" (1980)

• Chapter 1 famously laments the Library's destruction

• Argues humanity lost a thousand years of progress

• Influential popular treatment of the question

• Example of optimistic counterfactual

2. Richard Carrier's "The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire" (2017)

• Examines why ancient science didn't produce industrial revolution

• Argues institutional and economic factors, not lost knowledge, were limiting

• Challenges assumption that preserved texts would have changed trajectory

• Important corrective to romantic views

3. Joel Mokyr's "The Gifts of Athena" (2002) and "A Culture of Growth" (2016)

• Examines conditions necessary for sustained technological progress

• Argues access to knowledge is necessary but not sufficient

• Discusses why ancient world didn't industrialize despite knowledge

• Framework for evaluating counterfactual carefully

4. Toby Huff's "The Rise of Early Modern Science" (2003)

• Compares European, Islamic, and Chinese paths of scientific development

• Argues institutional factors determined which civilizations developed modern science

• Suggests preserved texts alone wouldn't guarantee different outcomes

5. James Hannam's "The Genesis of Science" (2011)

• Challenges "Dark Ages" narrative of knowledge loss

• Shows medieval period preserved and advanced ancient knowledge

• Argues recovery of ancient texts was less transformative than often claimed

• Complicates assumptions about what was lost

6. Niall Ferguson's "Virtual History" (1999)

• Essays on counterfactual history methodology

• Discusses how to conduct rigorous alternative history

• Framework for approaching "what if" questions historically

• Essential methodological resource

7. Maria Pearce's "The Library of Alexandria" (2021)

• Recent scholarly treatment of the Library's history

• Examines what was actually held and lost

• Discusses legacy and myth

• Up-to-date scholarly perspective

Key Questions and Issues to Address

Factual Foundations

• What did the Library actually contain? How much is myth vs. documented?

• Was there a single destruction or gradual decline?

• How much ancient knowledge was preserved through other channels?

Methodological Challenges

• How do we conduct rigorous counterfactual history?

• What constraints should "what if" speculation respect?

• How do we avoid presentism in imagining alternative pasts?

Knowledge and Progress

• Is access to accumulated knowledge sufficient for progress, or are other conditions necessary?

• Why didn't ancient civilizations with substantial knowledge industrialize?

• Would preserved texts have been read, understood, and applied?

Specific Domains

• How might preserved scientific texts have affected astronomy, medicine, mathematics?

• How might preserved philosophical texts have affected political development?

• How might preserved literary texts have affected culture and education?

Alternative Scenarios

• Would Christianity have developed differently with more competing philosophical traditions?

• Would the Islamic Golden Age have been enhanced or diminished?

• Would European Renaissance have occurred earlier, later, or not at all?

Broader Implications

• What does the question reveal about our assumptions regarding knowledge and progress?

• Is the Library's loss a tragedy or a neutral historical event?

• How does the question connect to contemporary concerns about knowledge preservation?

History Q3: Does Che deserve his iconic T-shirt?

John Locke's Works

1. Two Treatises of Government (1689)

• Chapter III on the state of war discusses when violence is justified

• Chapter XIX on tyranny examines legitimate resistance to oppression

• Provides framework for evaluating revolutionary violence

• Relevant for assessing whether Che's methods were justified

2. A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

• Argues against using force to compel belief

• Discusses limits of legitimate coercion

• Relevant for evaluating Che's treatment of political opponents

• Framework for assessing revolutionary intolerance

3. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

• Book IV discusses how we form judgments about complex matters

• Examines role of evidence and probability in belief

• Relevant for how we should evaluate contested historical figures

Historical Resources

1. Che Guevara's own writings

• "Guerrilla Warfare" (1961): Manual for revolutionary insurgency

• "Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War" (1963): Memoir of Cuban revolution

• "Message to the Tricontinental" (1967): Calls for worldwide armed revolution

• "Socialism and Man in Cuba" (1965): Vision of the "New Man"

• Primary sources essential for understanding his ideology and actions

2. Fidel Castro's speeches on Che

• October 18, 1967 memorial speech defines official Cuban view

• Constructed Che as revolutionary martyr

• Shows how the myth was consciously created

3. CIA and U.S. government documents on Che

• Declassified materials on tracking and killing Che in Bolivia

• Documents on his activities and U.S. assessment of threat

• Alternative perspective from his opponents

4. Accounts from La Cabaña prison

• Testimonies about Che's role in revolutionary tribunals

• Documents executions he oversaw or ordered

• Critical evidence for evaluating his human rights record

5. Alberto Korda's photograph (1960)

• Original "Guerrillero Heroico" image

• History of how it became iconic

• Korda never received payment; image entered public domain

• Essential for understanding the T-shirt phenomenon specifically

Contemporary Resources

1. Jon Lee Anderson's "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life" (1997)

• Definitive English-language biography

• Based on unprecedented access to Cuban archives and family

• Balanced treatment of achievements and atrocities

• Essential scholarly source

2. Jorge Castañeda's "Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara" (1997)

• Critical biography by Mexican intellectual

• Documents failures of Che's post-Cuba revolutionary attempts

• Examines gap between myth and reality

• Important corrective to hagiography

3. Humberto Fontova's "Exposing the Real Che Guevara" (2007)

• Highly critical account from Cuban exile perspective

• Documents executions, homophobia, and economic failures

• Polemical but includes important testimonies

• Represents strongly anti-Che position

4. Michael Casey's "Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image" (2009)

• Examines how the image became global icon

• Traces commercialization and political uses

• Discusses irony of capitalist marketing of communist revolutionary

• Directly addresses the T-shirt question

5. Paul Berman's essays on Che

• Liberal-left critique of Che veneration

• Argues celebrating Che betrays democratic values

• Examines why Western leftists romanticize authoritarians

6. Alvaro Vargas Llosa's "The Che Guevara Myth" (2005)

• Libertarian critique of Che's legacy

• Documents economic failures in Cuba

• Argues Che represented totalitarian strand of leftism

• Influential critical perspective

7. Samuel Farber's "The Politics of Che Guevara" (2016)

• Socialist critique from democratic left perspective

• Argues Che's Stalinism undermined genuine socialist goals

• Shows criticism of Che is not limited to the right

• Nuanced left-wing critical treatment

Key Questions and Issues to Address

Definitional Challenges

• What does "deserve" mean in this context? Earned? Appropriate? Justified?

• What does the T-shirt represent? Revolution? Rebellion? Style?

• Who is being asked whether he "deserves" it—and by what standards?

The Case For

• Genuine commitment to fighting inequality and imperialism

• Personal courage and sacrifice (gave up comfortable life, died for beliefs)

• Symbolic importance for anti-colonial movements worldwide

• Romantic appeal of idealistic revolutionary

The Case Against

• Oversaw summary executions at La Cabaña prison

• Expressed homophobic views and policies

• Economic policies as Cuban minister were failures

• Advocated nuclear war during Missile Crisis

• Post-Cuba guerrilla campaigns were catastrophic failures

The Image vs. The Man

• How much does T-shirt wearer know or care about historical Che?

• Has the image become detached from historical figure?

• Is wearing the shirt a political statement or fashion choice?

• Does commercialization undermine or extend his legacy?

Comparative Questions

• How does Che compare to other revolutionary figures who used violence?

• Do we judge historical figures by their intentions or consequences?

• Is there a double standard in how left-wing vs. right-wing revolutionaries are evaluated?

Historical Assessment

• How should we weigh his role in Cuban revolution against later failures?

• Was revolutionary violence justified given Batista's dictatorship?

• Did his methods serve or undermine his stated goals?

Contemporary Relevance

• What does Che veneration reveal about contemporary political culture?

• Is there meaningful distinction between admiring the image and endorsing the ideology?

• How should we handle morally complex historical figures in popular culture?

If you are overwhelmed by the number of sources and complexity of answering these questions, we understand. English teachers don't prepare high school students to tackle such formidable challenges in historical analysis. But we do. Schedule a free consultation with a John Locke competition writing expert today and learn how to unpack all of these sources to write a coherent and logically sound 2000 word essay which will earn you a competitive placing in this competition and impress admission officers.

Work With Our John Locke Expert Coaches

If you are overwhelmed by the number of sources and complexity of answering these questions, we understand. English teachers don't prepare high school students to tackle such formidable challenges in historical analysis. But we do.

Cosmic College Consulting has helped students earn shortlists, commendations, and prizes in the John Locke Competition. Our three expert coaches have collectively supervised 50+ John Locke essays and bring deep expertise in philosophy, politics, economics, and academic writing.

Marcus Lewis

John Locke Specialist | Scholastic Writing Expert

• Supervised 25+ John Locke Competition essays with approximately 10 students earning commendations

• Extensive Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards coaching, most students earn Gold or Silver Keys

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Dr. Jason Goldfarb

PhD, Duke University | Published Academic & Periodical Writer

• Supervised 25+ John Locke Competition essays, students have earned shortlists, Junior Prize placements, and top commendations

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Ready to Write a Winning Essay?

Schedule a free consultation with one of our John Locke expert coaches today. Learn how to unpack these sources, develop a compelling thesis, and write a coherent, logically sound 2000-word essay that will earn you a competitive placing in this competition and impress admissions officers.