John Lockes Two Treatises of Government

Reporter: Andales, Meldgyrie Mae M.

John Locke was born in 1632 near Bristol, England, to a fairly

affluent family. He was well-educated and graduated from
Oxford with a degree in medicine. His father was a lawyer
who fought in civil war on the side of the Parliamentary Party.

Lockes knowledge about medicine led him to meet Lord

Ashley in 1666. Lord Ashley was the leader of the Whig Party
a political party who opposed King Charles II of England in
1648 and one of the central figures of Locke. After John
save Lord Ashleys life, he became attached to his life and his
career. He assisted him in his political and commercial affairs and helped him drawing up the
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina in 1699 and then later on, Lord Ashely rose to peerage and
became Earl of Shaftesbury. But in 1675, Shaftesbury fell in disgrace.

Locke was exiled in Holland and there he saw and envied Holland for in this place there is
freedom and became the center of political and religious refugees. Holland showed Locke that
liberalism in religion and politics could work well and this gave him an idea and determination to help
England get rid to the illiberal government of Charles II and later James II.

List of major works:

1. A Letter Concerning Toleration, 1689.

2. (1690) A Second Letter Concerning Toleration
3. (1692) A Third Letter for Toleration
4. (1689) Two Treatises of Government
5. (1690) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
6. (1691) Some Considerations on the consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising
of the Value of Money
7. (1693) Some Thoughts Concerning Education
8. (1695) The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures
9. (1695) A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity

TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT

The rational liberalism of Locke is best reflected in his work Two Treatises of Government.
Often dismissed as a mere apology for the victorious Whigs in the revolution of 1688 1689 because
of the publication date of his work but actually, his work was substantially finished in 1681 but since
there is this habit of publishers of putting a later date on publications than the actual date on which
they appeared. This work also is considered to be the bible of modern liberalism.

The first treatise attacks Patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation

of Robert Filmer's Patriarcha. The second treatise outlines locke's ideas for A more civilized society
based on natural rights and contract theory. After 1689, the ideas in the "Treatises on Government"
spread rapidly. They were brought to France by Voltaire and Montesquien. They also formed the
basis of the American Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. Locke's ideas
became the characteristic philosophy of the governing classes in Britain, America and, amongst
certain thinkers, France for the next two hundred years (Burchill et al, 2014).

MAJOR POINTS

1. State of Nature

Like of Hobbes, Locke starts on the concept of state of nature. In his state of nature, it was ruled
by the law of nature.

The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one; and
reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that, being all equal and
independent no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

There are 2 kinds of state that men are naturally in and that is, state of perfect freedom and state of
equality. State of perfect freedom is to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and
persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending
upon the will of any other man. State of equality wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal,
no one having more than another. Locke firmly believes that all people have the ability to use reason
to find the correct moral path. He insists that we are rational enough to know what is, and is not, in
our best interest.

In the state of nature, there are 2 distinct rights: right of punishing everybody and right of taking
reparation. If anyone transgresses, the execution is in the state of nature. Each transgression can be
punished to extend of severity that will suffice the offender and make repent for his transgression.
Everyone has the power to execute the law of nature but since people are biased and takes their
judgment based on their interest, and ill-nature, passion and revenge will carry them too far in
punishing others.

2. State of War
 It is a state of enmity and destruction. Any man attempts to put any man under his absolute power
then, he puts himself to the state of nature to the other man. It makes it lawful for a man to kill a thief
who has not in the least hurt him, nor declared any design upon his life, any farther than by use of
force, so to get him in his power as to take way his money, or what he pleases, from him because at
this moment, the thief harms his health, liberty and possession therefore, he can kill him if he can.

STATE OF NATURE STATE OF WAR

Goodwill Enmity
Peace Violence
Mutual Assistance Mutual Destruction
Preservation

The very reason why men

leave state of nature

3. Slavery

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the
will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule.

A liberty to follow my own will in all things where the rule prescribes not, not to be
subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man, as freedom of
nature is to be under no other restraint but the law of nature.

For a man, not having the power of his own life, cannot, by compact or his own consent, enslave
himself to any one, nor put himself under the absolute, arbitrary power of another to take away his life
when he pleases but whenever he finds the hardship of his slavery outweigh the value of his life, it is
in his power, by resisting the will if his master, to draw on himself the death he desires.

4. Property

A property, according to Locke, is the mutual preservation of the life, liberty and estate and it is a
protection against power of others. The labor of his body and the work of his hands, we may say, are
properly his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state of nature have provide, left it in, he have
mixed his labor with it, and joined to it that something that is his own, and thereby makes it his
property. Locke added that as much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can use
the product of, so much as his property. It is also the main reason, according to Locke, why men
unite themselves and creates political society.

How private property can be justified? Locke answer: human effort mixed with natural resources is
the determining criterion which alone justifies private property wherein labor creates property and
determines the value of the property. How much property a person may fairly claim for himself?
Accordingly, he said that as much as the anyone can make use of to any advantage of life before it
spoils, so much he may by his labor fix a property in; whatever is beyond this, is more than his share,
and belongs to others. Moreover, he that gathered a hundred bushels of acorns or apples had
thereby a property in them; they were his goods as soon as gathered. He was only to look that he
used them before they spoiled, else he took more than his share, and robbed others. And, indeed, it
was a foolish thing, as well as dishonest, to hoard up more than he could use of.

5. Political Society

Wherever therefore any number if men are so united into one society as to quit every one his
executive power over the law of nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is a political
or civil society this is done whenever a group of people enter into a society to make one people, one
body politic under the supreme government. John Locke distinguished those people who are in the
political society as: (1) those that are united into one body (2) have common established law and
judicature to appeal to and, (3) has an authority t decide controversies between them and punish
offenders while those people that has no common appeal and no other judge for himself and
executioner are not in the political society.

Locke recommends the civil government for he believes that it is the proper remedy for the
inconveniences of the state of nature and that absolute monarchy, as perceived as other people as
the only government in the world, is indeed inconsistent with the civil society, and so can be a no
form of civil government at all. For it is said that those every absolute prince in respect of those who
are under his dominion are still in the state of the nature because in his dominion, he both have the
legislative and executive power in his hands and in this, there is no judge to be found.

6. The End of Government

In this chapter, Locke opens it with a question: if a man in the state of nature be so free and has
been said; if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions; equal to the greatest and
subject to no body, why will he part with his freedom? Why will he give up his empire, and subject
himself to the dominion and control of any other power? yes, a man, in the state of nature, has
rights, enjoyment, possessions and pleasures but all of these are uncertain, all of these are unsafe
and unsecure hence he will be full of fears and in danger in this way, man is willing to join in society
with others who are already united, or have a mind of to unite for the mutual preservation of their
lives, liberties, and estatestherefore, the chief and great end of mens uniting into commonwealths,
and putting themselves under government is the preservation of their property.

It is because of the willingness of the people to give up their power to authorized people and that
this authorized people will be entrusted to govern the community and this will be the rise of the
legislative and the executive power as well as the government and societies themselves.

7. The Limits of Government

The first fundamental positive law of all commonwealths is the establishing of the legislative
power. The legislatives duty is to preserve the society and of every person in it. This legislative is not
only the supreme power of the commonwealth, but sacred and unalterable in the hands where the
community has once placed it but still, the most highest power of all is the people wherein without
their consent, there will be no government and legislatures thus, it is to the legislatures that they will
make binding laws based on the interest of the people and makes decision for the common good.

Locke lists 4 major limitations on the powers of the legislatures and these are:

1. The law must be apply equally to all, rich and poor, favorite of the court and countrymen at
plough
2. The law must not be arbitrary and oppressive but must be designed for the good of the people
3. The legislatures must not raise taxes without the consent of the people or the representatives
4. The legislature must not transfer its law-making power to anybody else.

The power of the legislative being derived from the people by the positive voluntary grant and
institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed, which being only to make laws,
and not make legislators, the legislative can have no powers to transfer their authority of making laws,
and place it in other hands.

8. The Right to Rebel

There are 3 parties of trust and these are: (1) Trustor, who creates trust, (2) Trustee, who is
charged with the administration of trust, and (3) beneficiary, whose interest the trust is created but in
Lockes government, there are only two, the people which both the trustor and the beneficiary and the
legislative which is the trustee. If the legislators transgress on the fundamental rules of the society
and that betrays the trust that has given by the people and as well take away and destroy the
property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power put themselves in the state
of nature against the people. Hence, the government is dissolved and in this situation, the people are
at the liberty to provide for themselves by erecting a new legislature differing from the other by the
change of persons, form, or both as they shall find it most for their safety and good.

Some, however, may say that the people, being ignorant and always discontent, to lay the
foundations of government in its uncertain opinion and changing moods, is to expose it to certain ruin;
and that no government would be able to survive very long if the people can set up a new legislature
whenever they take offense at the old one. To this, however, I answer the contrary. People are not so
changeable as some suggest ..... The slowness of the people to give up their traditional form of
government has, in the many revolutions which have been seen in the Kingdom, in this and former
ages, still kept us to, or after some interval of fruitless attempts at other forms of government, still
brought us back to, our legislature of King, Lords and Commons (Burchill et al, 2014).

The right to replace the government cannot lead to frequent rebellion, people do not revolt every
little mismanagement of the government but in the long series of abuses, provocation and deceits all
in the same sense, make a conspiracy visible to the people, they cannot help sensing what is
happening. Hence, it is natural for people to put power in their hands to secure the end for which the
government was first established.

REFERENCE:

Ebenstein, William (ed.) 1969. Great Political Thinkers: Plato to the Present. 4th ed.
USA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Burchill, 4 (2014). John Locke and the Two Treatises of Government. from
http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/chap4015f.html

SparkNotes Editors. (2005). SparkNote on John Locke (16341704). Retrieved November 21, 2014,
from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/johnlocke/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Treatises_of_Government

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/two-treatises-of-government-by-locke-summary-lesson-
quiz.html#lesson