John Locke'sSecond Treatise of Governmentremainsa cornerstone of Western
political philosophy. Locke's theory of government based on the sovereignty of the
people has been extraordinarily influential since its publication in 1690—the concept of
the modern liberal-democratic state is rooted in Locke's writings.
Locke'sSecond Treatisestarts with a liberal premiseof a community of free, equal
individuals, all possessed of natural rights. Since these individuals will want to acquire
goods and will come into inevitable conflict, Locke invokes a natural law of morality to
govern them before they enter into society. Locke presumes people will understand that,
in order to best protect themselves and their property, they must come together into
some sort of body politic and agree to adhere to certain standards of behavior. Thus,
they relinquish some of their natural rights to enter into a social compact.
In this civil society, the people submit natural freedoms to the common laws of the
society; in return, they receive the protection of the government. By coming together,
the people create an executive power to enforce the laws and punish offenders. The
people entrust these laws and the executive power with authority. When, either through
an abuse of power or an impermissible change, these governing bodies cease to
represent the people and instead represent either themselves or some foreign power,
the people may—and indeedshould—rebel against theirgovernment and replace it with
one that will remember its trust. This is perhaps the most pressing concern of Locke's
Second Treatise,given his motivation in writing thework (justifying opposition to Charles
II) and publishing it (justifying the revolution of King William)—to explain the conditions
in which a people has the right to replace one government with another.
Locke links his abstract ideals to a deductive theory of unlimited personal property
wholly protected from governmental invention; in fact, in some cases Locke places the
sanctity of property over the sanctity of life (since one can relinquish one's life by
engaging in war, but cannot relinquish one's property, to which others might have
ownership rights). This joining of ideas—consensual, limited government based upon
natural human rights and dignity, and unlimited personal property, based on those same
rights, makes theSecond Treatisea perfectly-constructedargument against absolutism
and unjust governments. It appeals both to abstract moral notions and to a more
grounded view of the self-interest that leads people to form societies and governments.
ocke'sSecond Treatise on Governmentconsists of a short preface and nineteen
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chapters. In the preface, Locke expresses the hope that his text will justify the rule of
King William, and begins to reiterate criticisms he made in hisFirst Treatiseof Sir
Robert Filmer’sPatriarcha, which argued in support of the divine right of kings. Locke
continues in Chapter 1, where he defines political power as the right to make laws for
the protection and regulation of property. In his view, these laws only work because the
people accept them and because they are for the public good.
In Chapter 2, Locke claims that all men are originally in a state of nature. A man in this
original state is bound by the laws of nature, but he is otherwise able to live, act, and
dispose of his possessions as he sees fit. More important, human beings, free from the
arbitrary laws of other men, have an obligation to protect the interests of each other,
since they are all equally children of God. They also have an obligation to punish those
who go against God’s will and attempt to harm another by compromising his life, liberty,
or possessions.
In Chapters 3 and 4, Locke outlines the differences between the state of nature and the
state of war. The state of nature involves people living together, governed by reason,
without need of a common superior. The state of war occurs when people exert
unwelcome force on other people, interfering with their own natural rights and freedom,
without common authority. The difference between war in society and war in nature
depends on when they end. In society, war ends when the act of force, such as fighting,
is over. When the last blow has been thrown, both parties can appeal to common
authorities for the final resolution of past wrongs. But in nature, war does not end until
the aggressive party offers peace and offers to repair the damage done. Locke claims
that one of the major reasons people enter into society is to avoid the state of war.
hapter 5 deals with the definition and function of property. Whether by natural reason
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or the word of the Bible, the earth can be considered the property of all the people in the
world to use for their collective survival and benefit. But Locke also believes in individual
property. For individual property to exist, there must be a way for individuals to take
possession of the things around them. Locke explains that the best theory of right to
ownership is rooted in the fact that each person owns his or her own body and all the
labor that he or she performs with that body. So, when an individual adds his own
physical labor, which is his own property, to a foreign object or material, that object and
any resulting products become his property as well. Locke defines labor as the
determining factor of value, the tool by which humans make their world a more efficient
and rewarding place for all. Locke explains that money fulfills the need for a constant
measure of worth in a trading system but is still rooted in the property of labor.