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Locke argues that legitimate government rests on the consent of free and equal men who leave a state of nature to secure their lives, liberties, and property, and may withdraw that consent when rulers betray their trust.
Mind Map
Core Message
The starting point is a state of nature: a condition of perfect freedom and equality under a law of nature that binds everyone. No man holds natural authority over another, so all political power must be explained as something men construct, not something they are born subject to.
The earth is given to mankind in common, yet each person owns his own body and labor. By mixing labor with what nature provides, a man makes it his own. Property is therefore prior to government and not the gift of any ruler.
Because men are by nature free, no one can be brought under political power without his own consent. Free people agree to unite into one body, and the majority then acts for the whole. Legitimate authority is delegated, conditional, and bounded by the public good.
The chief end of government is to preserve property in the broad sense of lives, liberties, and estates. Power held for that end is a fiduciary trust. When rulers act against it, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who may resume their original liberty and set up a new legislative.
Summary
Locke opens by clearing away the claim that kings inherit authority from Adam. To understand political power rightly, he says, we must look to its origin, and that means imagining men as they are by nature, before any government exists. In this state of nature all are free to order their own actions and equal in power and jurisdiction, yet not lawless: a law of nature, discoverable by reason, teaches that no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.
From this Locke derives property. God gave the world to mankind in common, but every person owns his own person and the labor of his hands. When a man mixes his labor with what nature has left in common, he annexes something of his own to it and makes it his property, provided enough and as good is left for others. Labor, not royal grant or universal consent, is the title to ownership, and the invention of money later allows men to accumulate beyond immediate use.
Why would free men leave so much liberty behind? Because in the state of nature the enjoyment of one's rights is uncertain and exposed to the invasion of others, and each person is judge in his own case. There is no settled known law, no impartial judge, and no reliable power to back right judgments. To remedy these wants, men consent to unite into a commonwealth, surrendering their private power to punish so that the community can make and enforce common law.
Because men are naturally free, no one is bound to a government without his own consent. Once a number of men consent to form one body politic, the majority moves it, since a single body must move one way. Government so formed is limited: the legislative is supreme but cannot rule by arbitrary decree, cannot take property without consent, and exists only to preserve the public good. All such power is a trust placed in rulers by the people.
The treatise closes on the dissolution of government. Locke distinguishes the dissolution of society from the dissolution of government, and shows how rulers who alter the legislative, act outside law, or invade the people's property break their trust and put themselves into a state of war with those they govern. When this happens, power devolves back to the people, who may erect a new legislative. The right of resistance is not a charter for frequent rebellion but a final remedy against settled tyranny, the people's appeal to heaven when no judge on earth remains.
Key Concepts
A pre-political condition of perfect freedom and equality in which men live under a law of nature that forbids harming another's life, liberty, or possessions, with each person empowered to enforce that law.
It supplies Locke's baseline for judging governments: because men start free and equal, any authority over them must be justified by consent rather than assumed as natural.
The world is given to all in common, but a person owns his own body and labor; mixing labor with unowned nature makes a thing his property, so long as enough and as good remains for others.
It grounds ownership in individual effort prior to and independent of the state, making the protection of property a reason for government rather than a privilege it grants.
Legitimate political power arises only when free men consent to form one body, and the power they delegate is a fiduciary trust bounded by the public good and forfeit if abused.
It makes authority conditional and accountable, locating the ultimate source of government in the people and giving them grounds to resist rulers who break the trust.
Mental Models
Value and ownership are created when a person joins his work to the raw materials nature provides, removing them from the common store and annexing them to himself.
It offers a concrete test of just acquisition: ask what a person has actually added by effort, rather than what title or authority claims to grant.
Authority is not owned by rulers but held on loan from the people for a specific purpose, the preservation of the public good, and is answerable to that purpose.
It reframes obedience and accountability at once: subjects owe loyalty to power used for its end, and may withdraw it when that end is betrayed.
When a people has no common judge on earth to settle a wrong done by those in power, the final recourse is to resume their natural liberty and resist, leaving the outcome to the justice of their cause.
It marks the boundary of ordinary politics, naming resistance as a last remedy against settled tyranny rather than a routine response to every grievance.
Selected Quotes
The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his.
no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.
The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property.
Source
Source text: Project Gutenberg edition of Second Treatise of Government by John Locke.
HTML text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7370/pg7370.txt
Project Gutenberg states that this ebook is for use at no cost with almost no restrictions in the United States and most other parts of the world, subject to local law.
Published in 1690; the Project Gutenberg text follows the original work as reproduced in the C. B. Macpherson edition (Hackett, 1980), with none of the editorial apparatus included.