Two Treatises of Government
Also known as Second Treatise of Government, An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government
John Locke's principal work of political philosophy (1689): government by consent and the right of revolution.
At a glance
Key ideas
The state of nature, Property from labour, Consent of the governed …
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Slow start, Howard Zinn
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- The First Treatise refutes, sentence by sentence, Robert Filmer's Patriarcha and its case for divinely ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy.
- The Second Treatise sets out a civil society based on natural rights and contract, with government requiring the consent of the governed.
- It begins from a state of nature in which people are free and equal under the law of nature.
- People form political society to protect their property, meaning their "life, liberty, and estate", and may overthrow a government that breaks that trust.
Why it matters
- It is a key foundational text of liberalism, and its phrases are echoed in the United States Declaration of Independence.
Key facts
- Author
- John Locke, anonymously; he acknowledged it only near the end of his life1
- Published
- December 1689, London; the title page reads 16901
- Written
- Mostly from 1679 to 1680, during the Exclusion Crisis, revised in Dutch exile after 16831
- French translation
- 1691, by David Mazzel, without the preface or the First Treatise; the form Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau read1
- First American printing
- 1773, Boston1
- Lost material
- More than half of the original draft, between the two treatises; the First Treatise breaks off mid-sentence1
Key ideas
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The state of nature1
A state of perfect freedom and equality under the law of nature, in which no one may harm another's life, health, liberty or possessions.
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Property from labour1
Each person owns their own labour, and mixing it with nature makes things their own, within "enough and as good" and spoilage limits.
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Consent of the governed1
A legitimate government is formed by the consent of the majority, given directly or through representatives.
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No right of conquest1
Aggressors in an unjust war gain no right; a king's authority depends on the people's approbation.
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The right of revolution1
A legislature that grasps absolute power forfeits it, and power returns to the people.
Reception
Connections
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