Second Treatise of Government

John Locke's foundational argument for natural rights, consent and limited government.

At a glance The quiet book behind revolutions, still the clearest case ever made that political… Few short books have shaped the modern world so profoundly. Locke's Second Treatise of Government is where the language of natural rights… What it's about Locke begins with a thought experiment: imagine people in a state of…

Locke begins with a thought experiment: imagine people in a state of nature, before any government exists. There, he argues, all are free and equal, and each holds natural rights to life, liberty and property.