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John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1689
John Locke, an English philosopher, is considered as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and given considerable
credit to contributing to the arguments of American revolutionaries a hundred years later.
Quote
Translation
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: for men being all the workmanship of
one almighty, and infinitely wise maker…
In the state of nature, all men are equal to one another
because they were created as such by God. They are to
seek the preservation of mankind and refrain from
interfering with other men’s life, liberty, and
possessions. Reason is what guides men in this state of
nature, for if they comprehend that preserving other
men will lead to their own preservation, then the state
of nature is ideal. If any violation, all men are able to
punish the offender because that man is disrupting this
state of perfect freedom and is thus violating the rights
of men.
…So that God, by commanding to subdue, gave
authority so far to appropriate: and the condition of
human life, which requires labour and materials to
work on, necessarily introduces private
possessions….
Property consists of a man's life as well as his
possessions. God commanded Adam and his posterity
to work on the land; this labor is what gives the land
value and a man's possessions. In a state of nature,
men are to respect other men's property, but this is
not always the reality. Government is thus created to
protect and preserve property; this is considered its
most significant purpose and the most common
reason why the people in a state of nature consent to
be governed.
…Those who are united into one body, and have a
common established law, with authority to decide
controversies between them, and punish offenders,
are in civil society one with another: but those who
have no such common appeal, are still in the state of
nature, each being, where there is no other, judge
for himself, and executioner: which is, as I have
before showed it, the perfect state of nature….
The state of nature and civil society are mutually
opposed. In a state of nature men are their own
lawmakers and their own judges; they decide the
conflicts between themselves and do not look to any
other earthly authority. In a civil society, men
constitute one body with an agreed-upon authority
that is given the responsibility of making laws and
executing them. This civil government is only formed
by the consent of those who decide to leave the state
of nature. It cannot be brought about by force.
…For no man, or society of men, having a power to
deliver up their preservation, to the absolute will
and dominion of another; whenever any one shall go
about to bring them into such a slavish condition,
they will always have a right to preserve what they
have not a power to part with; and to rid themselves
of those who invade this fundamental, sacred, and
unalterable law of self-preservation, for which they
entered into society. And thus the community may
be said in this respect to be always the supreme
power…
When the ruler(s) of a nation violates the law of
nature and no longer seeks to preserve the public
good, then the people have the right to rise up against
him. A ruler should always be aware of the power of
the people because they were the ones that formed
the government and they have the power to dissolve
it. A good ruler can easily distinguish between actions
that promote the public good and those that destroy it.
Any lawful rebellion on the part of the people can alter
or abolish the legislative or executive power.
How is justice defined by Locke?
Modern Example
Hammurabi vs. King James vs. John Locke