Name: ____________________________________
Date: ________________
John Locke (1632-1704)
Selections from Two Treatises of Government
In many ways, Locke was asking the same fundamental questions about human nature that Hobbes was,
yet he arrives at a much more positive conclusion than seeing life as “nasty, brutish, and short”. In the
following selections from John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, we see Locke explain his
understanding of the fundamental nature of humanity and what rules humans can be expected to act
according to in a state of nature. Building upon these ideas, Locke proceeds to explain why humans enter
into social contracts and government, and what responsibilities these governments hold to their people.
Take some time to read through each selection with your group members, and answer the questions which
follow in complete sentences. It may be useful for your group to take a minute or two after reading each
selection to try to summarize what Locke is saying in your own words before addressing the questions.
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, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life,
health, liberty, or possessions…
Does Locke believe in the equality of men? ___________________________________________
What is the law of nature? What does it teach men? _____________________________________
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Men living together according to reason, without a common superior on earth, with authority to judge
between them, is properly the state of nature.
Every one…when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to
preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or
impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.
What is the “common superior on earth” to which Hobbes refers? ____________________________
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Here, Locke explains man’s proper behavior in the state of nature. Unlike Hobbes, how does he believe
men ought to be expected to act in this state? _________________________________________
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Is this a positive or negative understanding of human nature in the state of nature? ________________
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Political power is that power which every man, having in the state of nature, has given up into the
hands of the society, and therein to the governors whom the society hath set over itself, with this
express or tacit trust that it shall be employed for their good and the preservation of their property…And
this power has its origin only from compact, and agreement, and the mutual consent of those who
make up the community...
What is political power? ________________________________________________________
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Why do men willingly give up their political power? As we learned in class, what is this kind of relationship
called? ___________________________________________________________________
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Where does the government get its authority? __________________________________________
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Does a divine right monarchy derive its power in this way? ________________________________
Does a democracy? __________________________________________________________
The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property… Whenever the legislators
endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under
arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved
from any further obedience and are left to the common refuge [i.e., rebellion]…
Whensoever therefore the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society… by this breach
of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands…
In what way should a governing body never act towards its people? ___________________________
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Give an example of a government that has acted in this way: _______________________________
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If a government does act in this way, what do you think Locke would argue its people ought to do? ______
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