Locke (1632-1704) was a great English philosopher. He probably wrote the Two Treatises on Government around 1680, but it was published in 1689, in the same year as the publication of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, a major philosophical work on epistemology and metaphysics. Although the Two Treatises were published after William and Mary came to the throne, they had been written during the reigns of Charles II and James II, which were not tolerant times for political disagreement. There were plots to kill the kings, and some critics of the royalty had been executed. Locke lived in Holland for several years because he considered his life in danger, and he never publicly acknowledged that he was the author of the Two Treatises of Government. Locke wrote his Two Treatises to argue for and justify a change of government of Britain, moving away from absolute power in the monarchy towards power in democratically elected government.
In 1660, Charles II had returned from exile as king of England and Scotland. The next king, James II, tried to make England a Roman Catholic country again, and the ‘Glorious’ and bloodless Revolution of 1688 deposed him and put on the throne his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, who was Dutch. At this time England explicitly began operating as a constitutional state, run by both the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the monarchy.
The First Treatise criticizes the theory of absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings. That theory assumed that kings were descendants or heirs of Adam, and that they inherited Adam’s power over the world.
The Second Treatise criticizes the ideas of Hobbes. Locke was more optimistic than Hobbes was about human nature. He also believes that we can find objective moral truth that stems from God, which Hobbes flatly denied. He thought that people are capable of knowing and living by moral rules ("the natural law") without being forced to do so. In a natural state, humans have a sense for justice and injustice, right and wrong, independently of any law declared by a sovereign. If there were no government, then everyone in the state would have the right to punish people who violated the natural law.
The problem is that in this situation, we will have cases where emotions of love for oneself and one’s friends and hate for one’s enemies will sway judgment. We need government to restrain the partiality and violence of people. But not just any government will do, because there have to be safeguards to avoid institutional partiality and violence. An absolute sovereign is also capable of being biased. So people should make a social contract with each other to have one "body politic" which is run by majority rule. This representative government can legislate laws for the good of the whole, and it has executive powers to enforce the laws and protect the commonwealth against external enemies. But the government gets its authority only from the people it represents, and those people can change it if they want.
In order to enforce morality, Locke says that people agree to unite and to "enter into society to make one people, one body politic, under one supreme government" (§89). They "set up a judge ... with authority to determine all the controversies and redress the injuries that may happen to any member of the commonwealth" (§89).
Locke distinguishes between tacit and explicit consent. It makes no difference to his theory that people did not actually ever create a social contract and that people are born into civil societies without their choosing. He thinks that by remaining in society, one gives one’s tacit consent to it. One is always "at liberty to ... incorporate himself into any other community, or ... to begin a new one" (§121).
Locke allows the possibility of legitimate resistance
or revolution. "The community perpetually retains a supreme power of saving
themselves from ... their legislators, whenever they shall be so foolish
or so wicked, as to lay and carry on designs against their liberties and
properties" (§149).
4. In the state of nature, people are free to do whatever they want. People have roughly equal power. Hobbes said exactly the same.
The "Lord and Master of them all" is God.
5. "Hooker" refers to Richard Hooker, a contemporary political theorist. Locke agreed with Hooker’s views. So he is saying that it is the natural equality of men that gives then the obligation to love one another.
6. Locke says that reason teaches us that even in the state of nature, we must look after our own interests and also not harm each other. This is a duty to God. Hobbes would agree that we have reason to not be self-destructive, but he would presumably disagree with Locke that we have an obligation to help others when they are not competing with us for survival.
13. Locke is defending a view about the power of people in the state of nature to run their own lives. What is important here is that he goes on to say that absolute monarchs are merely men, and so are subject to the temptations that men experience. This is a problem that Hobbes does not really address adequately. Locke is saying that in the state of nature, men have control over their own lives, which is better than being controlled and unjustly treated by a monarch. If a man makes mistakes, he is answerable for it to the rest of mankind.
31. There are limits to how much we can own. "As much as any one can make use of to any advantage of life before it spoils; so much he may by his labour fix a Property in. Whatever is beyond this, is more than his share, and belongs to others." So people should not own more than they can enjoy. If all there was to own was what could be made on a farm, there would be no disputes about property.
32. But people can also own land. A man owns as much land as he works on. Note that here Locke makes direct reference to the Bible to support his claim.
33. Because there was so much land available originally, one person taking land did not harm other people, because there was so much to go around.
34. God made the land to be used, not argued over. People should not be jealous of what others have gained through their hard work.
46. Useful things like food normally have a short useful lifespan. Things like gold, silver and diamonds do not have any intrinsic usefulness. Exchanging objected in trade and accumulating wealth is not unjust when it does not lead to the needless waste of goods.
47. The invention of money meant that men could own a great deal without having more than they could use. They could buy something useful but perishable when they needed to.
48. It is the possibility of trading that makes it worthwhile being rich.
96. Locke justifies his belief in democracy. His justification sounds like an analogy with physics (and Locke was very familiar with the work of Newton): "it being necessary to that which is one body to move one way; it is necessary that the Body should move the way whither the greater force carries it, which is the consent of the majority: or else it is impossible it should act or continue on Body, one Community, which the consent of every individual that united into it, agreed that it should; and so every one is bound by that consent to be concluded by the majority." Locke seems to be assuming that in the formation of the body politic, each individual consented to be ruled by the decision of the majority. (This contrasts with Hobbes' assumption that the most rational approach is for each individual to consent to be ruled by the monarch. So far, it does not seem that Locke has given an argument for democracy; he has just assumed that it is the best method.)
97. As Hobbes did, Locke insists that people must stand by their original contract, otherwise it does not mean anything.
98. Again, he agrees with Hobbes that the body politic must have just one voice. For Locke, that one voice is that of the majority: the minority opinion thus counts for nothing in the end. This, he says, is necessary for the political stability of the society.
99. It is only the agreement of individuals to unite into one political society that makes it a society at all. That is the only way that there can be lawful government.
122. Simply living in a country and not disagreeing with the rules of the society does not make one a member of that society. Foreigners can live in a country without becoming citizens of that country. One has to actively choose to be a member of the society in order to become one.
124. Locke spells out three main advantages of individuals forming into one society rather than remaining in the state of nature. First, the society can have publicly agreed laws, which will settle disputes between people.
125. Second, in society, there can be an impartial judge who settles disputes according to the law.
126. Third, in society, there can be a system that enforces the rulings of judges.
127. These advantages of living in society explain why it is so rare to find people choosing to remain in a state of nature.
128. In the state of nature, people are free to do whatever they want for their own self-preservation within the laws of nature. By this, Locke means within the bounds of morality. Unlike Hobbes, he thinks that there are moral laws in the state of nature, and he does not agree with Hobbes that there is no such thing as injustice in the state of nature. Further, in the state of nature, people are free to carry out their own punishments of people who have offended against them. Locke explains that when one enters into a political society, one gives up both these powers.
129. The power of self-preservation is handed over to society.
130. It is society that does all punishment of crimes.
131. People only give up these powers for their own personal benefit. The power of society can never go beyond what is good for the people in society. Locke then explicitly argues that this means it is wrong to govern by "extemporary decrees" and to use the force of the community for anything but keeping the rule of standing law. Here he seems to be criticizing the actions of King James II.
Civil interests I call life, liberty, health, and indolence of body; and as the possession of outward things like money, lands, houses, furniture, and the like.
It is the duty of the civil magistrate, by the impartial execution of equal laws, to secure unto the people in general, and to every one of his subjects in particular, the just possession of these things belonging to this life. (Toleration, p. 26)
The care of every man’s soul belongs unto himself, and is to be left unto himself. (Toleration, p. 35)