Second Treatise of Government

John Locke's Second Treatise of Government asks what makes political power legitimate. Against theories that derive authority from paternal dominion or inherited absolute rule, Locke begins with people as naturally free and equal. Government cannot rightfully own them; it must arise from consent and serve purposes that individuals could recognize as their own.

Natural rights establish the limits of that arrangement. Life, liberty, and property require common laws and impartial judgment, so people form a political community and entrust defined powers to public institutions. Property develops through labor, but its protection remains part of a wider duty to preserve society instead of a license for arbitrary command.

Legislative authority is therefore substantial but conditional. Rulers who replace law with personal will, attack the rights they were appointed to defend, or place the community under foreign domination break the trust that created government. Resistance is not presented as casual disorder; it becomes justified when power persistently acts against its public purpose. Written in the context of England's political upheavals, the treatise connects constitutional argument to a general account of consent, obligation, and the people's right to judge a government that has abandoned its mandate. Its lasting influence comes from insisting that political obedience is reciprocal, not an unlimited duty owed to rulers.