Resumen
Resumen de Second Treatise of Government
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For students of politics, law and history, and any citizen who wants to know why governments need consent and where their limits lie. For readers who enjoy exploring liberty, equality, property and the right to resist.
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Why should anyone obey a government, and when may they stop? John Locke asks this plain question in the Second Treatise of Government, published without his name in 1689, just after the Glorious Revolution drove King James the Second from the throne. In his day many said kings ruled by divine right, as a father rules children. Locke answers that rulers draw their authority from the people, and that this authority is a trust with limits. His case rests on natural liberty, equality, property and consent. Its echoes reach the American Declaration of Independence and many modern constitutions.
En este resumen
- 1Political power is a limited trustFree
- 2People are born equal and at liberty
- 3Everyone may enforce the law of nature
- 4Labor gives people a right to property
- 5Property has limits that money changes
- 6Government begins with consent
- 7The legislature rules but has limits
- 8Rulers who abuse power become tyrants
- 9The people may resist and judge
Idea clave 1 de 9
Political power is a limited trust
Locke defines political power as the right to make laws, with penalties up to death, for regulating and preserving property. It also covers using the community's force to carry out those laws and to defend the country. All of it must aim at the public good.
He sets aside Sir Robert Filmer, who argued that kings inherit absolute power from Adam. A father's authority over a child, Locke notes, is not a ruler's authority over adults.
If power is a trust given for a purpose, it can be judged by whether it serves that purpose. A ruler who forgets this is not a master but a failed servant. Ask of any office who gave it, why, and with what limits.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Second Treatise of Government
About 3 h 40 min to read.About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 57,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Second Treatise of Government
What is the Second Treatise of Government about?
It explains where political power comes from and what limits it. Locke argues that people are born equal and at liberty, form governments by consent to protect their property, and may resist rulers who betray that trust.
What did Locke mean by the state of nature?
It describes people before any government. Locke says it is not lawless. Reason gives a law of nature that forbids harming others, but it lacks settled laws, impartial judges and enforcement.
When was the Second Treatise written and published?
Locke wrote it in the politically tense years before the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It appeared anonymously in 1689, with 1690 on the title page, as the second half of Two Treatises of Government.
What is Locke's theory of property?
Locke holds that people own their bodies, so they own the labor of their hands. When they mix labor with common resources, such as land or fruit, those things become theirs, within limits against waste.
Is the Second Treatise hard to read?
The argument is clear and moves step by step. Many readers start with the chapters on the state of nature, property, consent and dissolution of government.
Cite this edition
Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/second-treatise-of-government.
Locke, J. (2026). Second treatise of government. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/second-treatise-of-government (Original work published 1689)
Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/second-treatise-of-government.
@book{locke2026second,
author = {Locke, John},
title = {Second Treatise of Government},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/second-treatise-of-government},
note = {First published 1689}
}