Second Treatise of Government study guide

the legislature

The legislature makes public laws and supplies authoritative decisions about disputes, but consent and public welfare restrict its authority. Its power is therefore conditional, and it forfeits that power when it attacks the rights it should protect.

Key chapters: 7, 11, 19

the people

The people establish legislative authority by consent so that their lives, freedom, and possessions receive protection. They remain the source of political authority and recover it when rulers forfeit their trust.

Key chapters: 11, 19

the executive

The executive enforces laws and may summon assemblies, but these powers must serve public benefit. Discretion allows responses to unforeseen needs, showing why flexible authority still requires a clear public purpose.

Key chapters: 13, 14

parents

Parents share responsibility for raising children, and their authority serves the children's welfare rather than permanent control. Their task is to guide and protect children until those children can govern themselves.

Key chapters: 6, 15

children

Children gain independence through reason while continuing to owe parents respect, assistance, and gratitude.

Key chapters: 6, 16

Adam

Adam supplies a proposed foundation for political authority that the argument rejects as inadequate for present rulers. The later comparison involving his descendants also shows that superior wealth cannot justify oppression.

Key chapters: 1, 18

Sir Robert Filmer

Sir Robert Filmer represents an account of political authority that the argument rejects because it cannot identify rightful rulers. A hypothetical infant heir further tests his account of unlimited monarchical authority.

Key chapters: 1, 6

Consent and authority

Consent creates political community, while majority rule makes collective decisions binding on its members. The requirement of lawful appointment and free consent also shows that exercising authority is not enough to establish a right to rule.

Where it shows: chapters 8, 17

Limited government

Executive discretion likewise serves a conditional purpose, since harmful uses of power give people grounds to resist.

Where it shows: chapters 11, 14

Impartial justice

Impartial courts offer a way to settle disputes rather than leaving threats to life and liberty unresolved. Government's combination of laws, judges, and shared force shows that protection requires both a common standard and the means to uphold it.

Where it shows: chapters 3, 9

Distinct powers

Parental care does not confer sovereignty, because children gain independence as they acquire reason. The distinction among parents, governors, and masters shows why authority must be judged by its particular source and purpose rather than treated as one unlimited power.

Where it shows: chapters 6, 15

Lawful resistance

Defense becomes permissible against unlawful force when legal remedies fail, showing that resistance answers a failure of lawful protection. The community's grounds for replacing governors likewise arise from broken trust and attacks on liberty, rather than authority alone.

Where it shows: chapters 18, 19

The speaker, Chapter 2. The speaker makes this distinction while explaining natural equality and obligations under reason. It shows that freedom does not mean exemption from duties.

The narrator, Chapter 6. The narrator separates political authority from parental care while discussing children's growing independence. The distinction shows why raising children cannot establish a right to govern them permanently.

The narrator, Chapter 8. The narrator states the basis of belonging to a political community while explaining how communities form. The line shows that legitimate subjection requires consent rather than merely the existence of power.

The narrator, Chapter 14. The narrator defines executive discretion while considering unforeseen needs.

Locke, Chapter 19. Locke gives the people the judging role when discussing rulers who forfeit public trust. This shows that governors cannot be the final judges of their own authority.