Two Treatises of Government (First and Second)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~160,000 words · 742 passages
Cite this work
- APAJohn Locke. (n.d.). Two Treatises of Government (First and Second). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/john-locke/two-treatises-of-government-first-and-second
- MLAJohn Locke. "Two Treatises of Government (First and Second)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/john-locke/two-treatises-of-government-first-and-second.
- ChicagoJohn Locke. Two Treatises of Government (First and Second). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/john-locke/two-treatises-of-government-first-and-second.
What it is about
Two treatises: the first refutes the claim that kings rule by inheritance from Adam; the second founds government on the consent of the governed and admits a right to resist it.
Context and history
They appeared anonymously in 1689, just after the Glorious Revolution, and for centuries were read as its justification. Peter Laslett showed in 1960 that they had been written earlier, around 1679–1683, during the Exclusion Crisis: they argued for a revolution still to come, not for one already made. Locke denied authorship all his life and acknowledged it only in his will.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
parties, the real origin of the power of the One, and for what purpose it was granted ; and the just obedience due by the Other ; when those purposes tend to the preservation, and good of society in general. London, January, 1821- TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT. IN THE FORMER THE FALSE PRINCIPLES AND FOUNDATION OF SIR ROBERT FILMER AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE DETECTED AND OVERTHROWN. THE LATTER IS AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE TRUE ORIGINAL EXTENT AND END OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. PREFACE. HEADER, thou hast here the beginning and end of a discourse concerning government; what fate has otherwise disposed of the papers that should have fdled up the middle, and were more than all the rest, it is not worth while to tell thee. These, which remain, I hope are sufficient to establish the throne of our great restorer, or present King William ; to make good his title, in the consent of the people, which being the only one of all lawful governments, he has more fully and clearly, than any prince in Christendom ; and to justify to the world the people of E
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