Two Treatises of Government

Two Treatises of Government

by Milap Patel

Two Treatises of Government

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Section 1: Background

Life In England During The Time Of John Locke

John Locke is an English philosopher who was born in England in the year, 1632. He initially studied medicine at University of Oxford, graduating with a degree in that field, but later joined Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, assisting him on business and political matters along with being his personal physician. John Locke was deeply influenced during his time with Cooper where he started to understand politics. He eventually take a stand against monarchy, believing that the government was for the benefit of the people.

This was clearly not the case during his time. The kings of England, King Charles II and King James II, were abusive of their power, forcing their will on the citizens by passing laws that favored their religious views. These law caused the people of England, during Locke's time, unwanted suffering and misery over religious matters. As such, the people considered monarchy in England a from of tyranny where they believed monarchy stripped them of their freedom and demoted them to a form of slavery, a form where they were forced to obey the unjust king. The people of England considered their ruling government to fail at its obligations to the people and because of this they called for a new form of government that favored the people as a whole, not just a few. These thoughts eventually lead to the Glorious Revolution, which took place in 1688, in which the tyrannical monarchy of England was overthrown. Locke's philosophical view on politics in his work, the Two Treatises Of Government, had a major influence on this movement where he tried to justify the fall of monarchy and a creation of a new from of government for the people.

Evaluation Of Two Treatises of Government

Locke's philosophy was deeply religious and deeply influenced by the events that unfolded during his life in England. As such, he tries to understand the essence of government and the reason for its existence in his work, the Two Treatises Of Government. In Two Treatises Of Government, Locke first looked at the state of nature to understand the origins of authority. Form there, he concluded that monarchy is not the right form of government, supporting his claim with a religious view. He ends the Two Treatises Of Government by calling for a new form of government to replace monarchy, where the people have power within the ruling government to better protect their life, liberty and property. He also lays out the foundation for rebellion and formation of a new form of government when the immediate ruling government ceases to function for the benefit of the people.

State Of Nature

John Locke looks at humans in the state of nature in the second treatise of his work, the Two Treatises of Government. He claims that all men are originally in a state of nature. In this state, Locke says that all men are perfectly free and perfectly equal without an overseeing government. In other words, Locke implies that people are only bounded by the law of nature where each person lives, acts, and uses his possessions as he sees fit without a common authority. The natural law, or the "Fundamental law of Nature," as Locke calls it, is the right to self-preservation. It states that each man is empowered to do whatever is in his power to preserve himself in the state of nature.

State Of War

Locke then moves on to talk about differences between the state of nature and the state of war in chapter III if his Second Treatise. In the state of war, people exert unwelcome force on other people by interfering with their natural rights and freedom. According to Locke, a state of nature which at first is a condition of peace and mutual trust, quickly degenerates into a state of war when a crises or a disagreement arises between the people. This happens because there is no overseeing authority in the state of nature meaning each individual serves as a judge, jury and executioner of the natural law. This leads to force and violence, the only resolution since common law does not exist between the people.

Property is a key subject Locke brings up in chapter V of the Second Treatise. In this chapter he links humans behavior of acquiring property to the state of war when humans are living in the state of nature. Locke begins this chapter by first stating that the earth is considered the property of all the people where the people can use it for their collective survival and benefits. Locke writes, "God gave the World to Men in Common, but he gave it to them for their benefits, and the greatest Conveniences of Life they were capable to draw form it." Locke then considers the concept of individual property where individuals take possession of the things around them when in state of nature. He says, "Human nature is very much that of man as the property-acquiring animal in the state of nature." In other words, Locke is suggesting that humans tend to take possessions of things around them and call it their property. This, however, bring up the question of ownership. Locke defines ownership as labor preformed by a person. He writes, "Every man has a Property in his Person. This body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his...For this Labour being the unquestionable Property of the Laborer." In other words, Locke says that a person owns his own body and all the labor preformed by that body. Labor then leads to the ownership of property that the labor relates to. Now, when another person adds his own physical labor, which is his own property, to a foreign object or material, then that object and any resulting products also become his property. But in a state of nature, there are no common laws to determine who owns what part of an object or fruits of collective labor since each person has his own idea on possession. This ultimately leads to the state of war over the conflict of possession where the resolution ends in violence and dominance of the fittest.

Call For A Government

Locke calls for a government to secure individuals property. As he puts it, the natural law dictates a right of private property, and it is to secure this right that government is established. Locke further explains this by relating it to the state of war. He call the state of nature "unstable" with no civil authority where people are in constant dispute over the ownership of their property. This prevents peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of their labor which are constantly threatened by others around them, causing war and conflict. As such, this is the key reason why Locke calls for a common government where common laws can resolve the conflicts without resorting to a state of war. Locke writes, "protection of property is the great and chief end of Men's uniting into a commonwealth."

Locke's View Against Monarchy

Locke believes that monarchy emerged as an early form of government to protect the people form being in a state of war. He believed that people considered monarchy, or a one man rule, to be the prime form of government as they moved into societies form the state of nature. The idea behind monarchy was to create laws form one person's perspective that everyone else obeyed, ultimately reducing everyone's individual views on subjects to one common view. Doing this would help create order among the population where common laws would help resolve conflicts in a more peaceful manner, compared to how they were resolved when in the state of nature with multiple individual's views.

Locke, further, goes on to say that monarchy became abusive in England over time where the kings, or the ruling individuals, thought they had the divine right of the kings, granted to them by God, to rule their people as they saw fit. Filmer, in his book called Patriarcha supported this notion by saying that every man is born a slave to the natural born kings. He justify's this claim by relating it to religion, saying that Biblical Adam, in his role as father, was granted unlimited power, by God, over his children and his authority passed down through the generations. In other words, Filmer basically said that the kings were Adam's heirs who held the ultimate power, granted to them by the God, over the residents of this world.

Locke opposed Filmer's notion, in the first treatise. He said that every man had the ability to virtuously govern himself according to God’s law where enslaving mankind, as he saw it, was "a vile and miserable an estate of man." He believed that the world was originally held in common where God's grant to Adam covered only the land and brute animals, not human beings. In other words, he believed that God did not grant the kings the right to impose their rule on other people. Locke further supports his view by saying that if Filmer is correct on his theory of divine right of the kings, then there should only be one rightful king in all the world, which being Adam's heir. This, however, will be impossible to discover, meaning that no government, under Filmer's principles, can require its members to obey the God appointed rulers, including England.

Better Government For The People

Locke now moves onto defining the fundamentals of a government for the people. Locke points out two aspects of a government that are revolutionary: the idea of human rights and the idea of a branched government. Human rights, Locke says, are the rights granted to human for being human. He says that these "natural rights" cannot be taken away or rightfully eliminated for anyone. The composition of these natural rights include three essential components: right of life, the right of liberty and the right of property. The right of life, according to Locke, guarantees each person effectively 'owns' himself. This in short frowns at the idea of enslaving others to one's will. The right of liberty insures individuals the right to do, more or less, what they want with their life. This, once again, frowns at the idea of enslaving someone to do something against their own will, assuming it does not break the societal laws of affecting someone else negatively. The last right, the right of property, ensures that a person's work is only theirs for the benefiting.
The idea of a branched government, according to Locke, is to limit the power of a government. This is done by keeping all the components within the government in check with each other. For this to happen, Locke calls for a government with strong legislature and an active executive who do not outstrip lawmakers in power. Locke also brings in the idea of having rule of the majority within a government. This will help limit the powers of individuals within the government.

Right Of Rebellion

Lastly, Locke explains the idea of rebellion. When the ruling government ceases to function correctly for its people, it is then that Locke encourages a rebellion or a revolution. He says that it is society's obligation to do so to prevent tyranny or slavery from taking hold in societies.

Section 2: Deliverable

In this section, I will explain how John Locke and his Two Treatises Of Government influenced America. I will first explain how the American Revolution was influenced by Locke followed by how the government of America was influenced by him. I will then explain how slavery compared to Locke's political views and then I will end this section explaining how Locke's political views are seen today.

Locke's Influence On The American Revolution

The influence from John Locke's political philosophy can be seen in the events that lead up to the revolution. Colonists considered their liberty and their natural rights to be violated by the British government as they passed their acts to raise revenue after the Seven Years' War. The first act, the Stamp Act, was put in place to tax all paper documents within the colonies without the representation of the American colonies. Britain justified this act saying that the colonists were obligated to help repay the debt incurred during the Seven Years' War because most of the war efforts were used to protect them. The colonists did not see it this way. They believed this act was unconstitutional and that it would ultimately lead to the death of journalism as they knew it in the colonies. Furthermore, the colonists felt like they had no say on this political matter that impacted them because they had no representation regarding this act. They saw this as a form of tyranny where they were forced to obey the new unjustly laws enforced on them by Britain where it benefited the British government but not its people, the colonists.

This was clearly a form of rule that Locke would oppose. First of all, Locke was against the idea of tyranny which is outlined in the Two Treatises Of Government explained above. As he saw it, tyranny emerges when the government stops benefiting its people. This is exactly what the Stamp Act did where it benefited the British government but not the colonists as it would ultimately lead to the death of journalism in the colonies. Locke, in this case, would call for a rebellion against this injustice and it is exactly what the colonists did. The colonist rebelled against this act with violent mobs that would intimidate stamp collectors into resigning. Their intentions were to have the British government repeal the unjust Stamp Act. Britain complied with the colonists request of repealing the Stamp Act, but they imposed other acts in its place, such as the Declaratory Act, the Quartering Act, Townshend Acts and Tea Act. These acts continued to raise revenue for the British government along with further restricting the colonist's freedom. At this point, the colonists felt like they were slaves who were forced to serve a foreign tyrannical government who stripped them for their liberty and their freedom. Furthermore, the colonists had no representation in their ruling government meaning that this government was not for the people. As such, the colonists called for a revolution, the American Revolution, to overthrow tyrannical British rule over the colonies and form their own government that would benefit its people. This, once again, is clearly what Locke outlined in the Two Treatises Of Government where he says that the government is for the benefit of the people and if it is not, then it should be overthrown through a revolution.

Locke's Influence The American Government

Locke's influence can also be seen in the creation of the American government. The American government was formed after winning the American revolution. The main goal of this government was to serve it people, which was Locke's central theory in Two Treatises Of Government. To achieve this, the founding fathers created the Constitution. The constitution itself had bill of rights that insured life, liberty and property to its people. Locke's political influence can be clearly in the creation of this document. The main reason Locke believed individuals joined societies was to protect their property without resorting to the state of war as outlined above. This document precisely did that along with protecting individuals liberty.
Furthermore, Locke's influence can also be seen in the structure of the American government. The American government consist of three main branches outlined in the constitution: the legislative branch, which makes the laws, the executive branch, which extricates the laws, and the judicial branch, which insures that the laws are valid for the people. The idea behind having these three branches are to prevent tyranny from taking hold of the government. This is done by providing each branch with checks and balances over the other branches. These checks and balances will restrict the branches form gaining too much power in the government, ultimately reducing the chances of a tyrannical government from emerging. This is precisely the kind of government for the people Locke outlined in the Two Treatises Of Government explained above. Furthermore, each branch also has a rule of majority to conduct it's desired actions. This further prevents tyranny from emerging by restricting individuals power over the action taken by the government. This once again is also outlined by Locke to have a good form of government for the people discussed above.