Two Treatises of Government

Two Treatises of Government
Public domain · source
Title	Two Treatises of Government
Author	John Locke
Country	England
Language	English
Published	1689 (posthumous edit; 1680s manuscripts)
Genre	Political philosophy

Two Treatises of Government is a seminal work attributed to John Locke that shaped modern political theory and informed debates in the Glorious Revolution, the English Bill of Rights, and the development of liberalism. Written amid the turmoil of the Exclusion Crisis, the Popish Plot, and the reigns of Charles II and James II of England, the work intervenes in controversies involving the English Civil War, the Restoration (England), and disputes surrounding the Papacy and Tory-Whig antagonisms. Its arguments were read by influential figures connected to the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and later constitutional projects such as the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Background and Context

Locke composed the Treatises during the 1670s–1680s while associated with patrons like Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury and residing near Oxford. The political climate included the aftermath of the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I of England, the interregnum under Oliver Cromwell, and the Restoration under Charles II, which produced legal and theological disputes exemplified by the trial of the Seven Bishops and the controversies over the Test Acts. Intellectual currents such as the writings of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, and the scholastic legacy of Samuel Pufendorf informed Locke’s engagements, as did debates in Calvinist and Arminian theology, and legal traditions rooted in Magna Carta and common law jurists like Edward Coke.

Structure and Content

The work is divided into two parts: the First Treatise, which critiques the theory of the divine right of kings advanced by writers like Robert Filmer (notably Patriarcha), and the Second Treatise, which develops Locke’s positive account of political legitimacy. The First Treatise systematically responds to Filmer’s claim that monarchs inherit absolute authority from Adam, citing rivals such as Thomas Hobbes and referencing precedents in Canon law and English constitutional history. The Second Treatise lays out doctrines of natural rights, consent, property, and revolution, engaging with sources including Hugo Grotius, John Milton, and the legalism found in Matthew Hale and John Fortescue.

Political Philosophy and Key Arguments

Locke articulates a theory of natural rights grounded in a state of nature discussion, drawing contrasts with Thomas Hobbes’s portrayal of a bellum omnium contra omnes and invoking earlier natural law thinkers like Samuel Pufendorf and Hugo Grotius. He defends labor as the basis of property, interacting with notions from Aristotle’s custodial household theory and the practices of Mercantilism debated in City of London economic circles. Locke advances consent-based legitimacy, limited government, separation of powers anticipations that influenced commentators such as Montesquieu, and right of resistance that resonated with George Mason and Thomas Jefferson. He situates civil society as arising from voluntary compact among individuals reminiscent of contractarian strands found in Thomas Hobbes and later developed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Influence and Reception

The Treatises circulated among intellectual and political networks including the Royal Society, the East India Company, and the Whig Junto, impacting constitutional practice in England, the colonial legislatures of British North America, and the framers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Locke’s argumentation influenced political actors from William of Orange and participants in the Glorious Revolution to American statesmen like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Continental reception affected philosophes such as Voltaire, Denis Diderot, and Montesquieu, and informed revolutionary discourse in the French Revolution. Locke’s thought was incorporated into legal debates in institutions like the Courts of Westminster Hall and shaped later developments in liberal democracy promoted by scholars in the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.

Authorship and Attribution

While commonly attributed to John Locke, attribution was contested in the 17th and 18th centuries; contemporaries debated the identity of the anonymous author amid pamphlet wars involving figures like Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury and clerical opponents in the Church of England. Early editions were published anonymously and posthumous editorial choices by printers in London contributed to textual variants. Locke’s manuscripts and correspondence, preserved in collections associated with Corpus Christi College, Oxford and later archives, have been examined by commentators including Peter Laslett and legal historians such as J.W. Gough for establishment of authoritative texts.

Criticisms and Controversies

Scholars and political actors have critiqued Locke on grounds ranging from perceived inconsistencies about property and indigenous rights in colonial contexts to debates over toleration and the role of Christianity in public life. Critics such as David Hume and later thinkers like Karl Marx and G.A. Cohen questioned the class implications and historical assumptions in Locke’s labor theory of property, while postcolonial critics have connected Locke’s theories to practices of the English East India Company and colonial appropriation in regions like Virginia and the Caribbean. Historiographical disputes continue over Locke’s private letters, his relationship with patrons like Shaftesbury, and the influence of contemporaneous legal developments such as the Bill of Rights 1689.

Category:Works by John Locke