- 01Preface: Locke’s defense of the surviving treatise
- 01Book II
Second Treatise of Government
by John Locke · 1689 · 21 chapters · 24/7 tutor
Natural rights, property, and legitimate government.
21Chapters
69Lessons
141Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Explain Locke’s view of the state of nature and natural law
- Describe the origins and limits of legitimate political authority
- Analyze Locke’s account of property and its relation to labor
- Distinguish between state of war, slavery, and civil society
- Summarize the purpose of government and the rights it must protect
- Interpret Locke’s arguments for consent, representation, and legislative power
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 21
- Lessons
- 69
- Topics
- 141
- 01Refutation of Adamic authority and hereditary rule
- 02Definition of political power
- 01Natural freedom and equality
- 02Hooker on equality and mutual love
- 03Liberty is not licence
- 01Law of nature and equal restraint
- 02Right to punish offenders
- 03Punishment as reparation and deterrence
- 01Punishment of aliens under natural law
- 02Injury, reparation, and the magistrate's power
- 03Punishment of murder and lesser breaches
- 01Independent governments in the state of nature
- 02Executive power of the law of nature
- 03Hooker on natural law and politic society
- 01The state of war as declared enmity
- 02Attempted enslavement and theft as acts of war
- 03Difference between the state of nature and the state of war
- 04Cessation of war and appeal to heaven
- 01Natural liberty and civil freedom
- 02Limits of slavery and voluntary servitude
- 01Natural reason and common ownership of the earth
- 02Labour as the source of property
- 01Labour as the basis of property
- 02Limits on appropriation and spoilage
- 01Appropriation by labor and improvement
- 01Labour as the basis of appropriation
- 02Natural limits on property
- 03Money and larger possessions
- 01Labour creates property in land and produce
- 02Labour as the source of value
- 03Money, waste land, and lasting property
- 01Use of money and durable exchange
- 02Money’s role in enlarging possessions
- 03Gold and silver by consent
- 01Labour as the original title to property
- 01Parental power and the mother’s equal title
- 02Equality, natural freedom, and temporary parental jurisdiction
- 01The power of parents over children
- 01Temporary tuition versus lifelong honour
- 01Inheritance and submission to government
- 01Limits of paternal authority and family government
- 01Children's tacit consent to paternal authority
- 02From family fathers to hereditary and elective kingdoms
- 01Conjugal society as the first family bond
- 02Why the marriage bond lasts longer in humans
- 03Limits of marital power and civil regulation
- 01Master and servant versus slavery
- 02Political or civil society and commonwealth authority
- 03Absolute monarchy and civil society
- 01Absolute princes remain in the state of nature
- 02Limits of absolute monarchy and civil security
- 01No exemption from civil laws
- 01Consent as the basis of civil society
- 02Majority rule in the body politic
- 03Obligation to submit to the majority
- 04Why unanimous consent is impractical
- 01Consent as the beginning of lawful government
- 02Objections from history and birth under government
- 03Examples of Rome and Venice
- 01Voluntary union and consent of governors
- 02Paternal beginnings of government
- 01Why early societies chose monarchy
- 02Kings as war leaders in America and Israel
- 03From hereditary rule to restrained government
- 01Consent as the basis of peaceful government
- 02Reply to the objection that all men are born under government
- 01Withdrawal from inherited jurisdictions
- 02Children's consent and inherited property
- 03Freemen born under government
- 01Natural freedom and tacit consent
- 01Tacit consent through land possession
- 02Local protection does not create membership
- 01Why people leave the state of nature
- 02The three defects of natural condition
- 03Transfer of natural powers to society
- 04Limits and duties of legislative power
- 01Forms of government by the placement of legislative power
- 02Meaning of 'commonwealth' as an independent community
- 01The legislative power as supreme authority
- 02Limits on legislative power over lives and fortunes
- 01Limits of legislative power under natural law
- 02Standing laws and authorized judges
- 01Declared laws versus arbitrary rule
- 02Property cannot be taken without consent
- 01The legislative cannot transfer lawmaking power
- 02Bounds on legislative power
- 01Legislative power and separation from execution
- 02Federative power in foreign affairs
- 03Why executive and federative powers are usually united
- 01Legislative supremacy and the people's reserved power
- 02Supreme power while government subsists
- 03Supreme execution in mixed governments
- 01Executive power as public representation
- 02Subordination and accountability of ministerial powers
- 03Necessity of the executive and convoking the legislature
- 01Executive power to convene and dissolve the legislature
- 01Unequal representation and the need for remedy
- 01Of prerogative
- 01The power of calling parliaments in England
- 01CHAPTER. XV. OF PATERNAL, POLITICAL, AND DESPOTICAL POWER, CONSIDERED TOGETHER.
- 01Of conquest
- 01Conqueror’s power in a lawful war
- 01Conqueror's power over persons and estates
- 01Rights of innocent wife and children
- 02Conqueror’s title to reparation and land
- 01No right of dominion over the subdued
- 02Promises extorted by force are not consent
- 03Conqueror's power ends with the subdued, not their children
- 01Native freedom and hereditary property
- 01Conquest and the limits of dominion
- 01Nature of usurpation and tyranny
- 02Lawful designation of rulers
- 01Of tyranny
- 01Kings bound by law, not will
- 02Tyranny in any form of government
- 03Where law ends, tyranny begins
- 04Objection about resisting princes
- 01Resistance to unjust force
- 02Sacredness of the prince's person
- 03Illegal acts of commissioned officers
- 04Appeal to law before resistance
- 01Signs of arbitrary power
- 01Dissolution of society by foreign conquest
- 02Dissolution from within: alteration of the legislative
- 01Prince obstructing the legislative assembly
- 01Supreme executive neglect and abandonment of office
- 01Legislative breach of trust by invading property
- 02Supreme executor's breach of trust and election manipulation
- 01People's right to set up a new legislative
- 02Why this right does not cause frequent rebellion
- 01Rebellion as force against lawful authority
- 02Why resistance to tyranny is justified
- 03Resistance to magistrates who use force without right
- 01Self-defence against tyrannical kings
- 01Resistance with reverence and without punishment
- 02Barclay’s two cases of forfeiture
- 01The people as judge of trust
- 02Appeal to heaven in disputed cases
- 03Forfeiture and reversion of legislative power
01How many chapters are in the Second Treatise of Government course?
The Second Treatise of Government course has 21 chapters, each with its own lessons and topics.
02How many lessons are in the Second Treatise of Government course?
There are 69 lessons across the course, and you can ask your 24/7 tutor about any of them.
03Can I see what the Second Treatise of Government course covers before I start?
Yes. The full curriculum is listed on this page, beginning with "TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT BY IOHN LOCKE · SALUS POPULI SUPREMA LEX ESTO LONDON PRINTED MDCLXXXVIII · MDCCLXIII TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT. IN THE FORMER THE FALSE PRINCIPLES AND".
04Do I get a certificate for the Second Treatise of Government course?
Yes. Finishing the course earns a personal Cavua certificate of completion.
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