Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Second Treatise of Government, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, War, and Civil Society
Consent of the Governed and the Role of Government
Power and Absolute Monarchies
The Dissolution of Government
Summary
Analysis
God made humankind in such a way that humans do not like to be alone. Thus, Locke maintains, humankind has a natural inclination for society. Society began between a man and woman, who together had children, and that society soon grew to include that of master and servant. These individual societies joined together to form a political society. Conjugal society arises from a compact between man and woman, and it consists mainly of the right to one another’s bodies for the purpose of procreation. Conjugal society also includes mutual support and assistance, affection, and an obligation to nourish and maintain offspring.
Locke’s argument that humankind has a natural inclination for society is again rooted in Sir Robert Hooker and his 1594 publication of The Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, in which Hooker argues the very same thing. The key to each of the individual societies Locke outlines is that they each require consent. Here, conjugal society arises from a contract, which again implies freely given consent.
Themes
The contract between a man and woman in conjugal society lasts longer than any other conjugal relationship in nature, as it must last long enough to maintain and nourish offspring. However, Locke contends, since husband and wife are sure to have different wills and understanding of things, it is necessary for the determining rule to be placed in one power, usually the man. But this still leaves the wife in full possession of her rights of the contract, and her husband has no more power over her life than he has over his own. Thus, the power of the husband is very far from the power of the absolute monarch, and in some cases, a wife can even separate from her husband.
Again, men do not have dominion over women, according to Locke. In instances when a husband and wife may disagree concerning child-rearing, that decision usually defaults to the husband, but Locke is quick to point out that women still possess a natural and innate right to freedom and equality that cannot be infringed on by another—including one’s own husband, as he has no more natural power or freedom than his wife.
Themes
As Locke has already explained the limited power parents have over children, he claims he will not belabor it again, expect to say that the power relationship between parents and their children is very different from politic society. In the case of a master and servant, free people sell themselves as a servants to another for a specified time, for a specified wage, and this gives a master limited power over his servants and only on the terms of the contract that exists between them. Slaves, Locke continues, who are captured in a just state of war, are subject to the absolute and arbitrary power of their master. In a state of slavery, Locke says, one forfeits their life and liberty to their master and are not part of civil society.
Locke pauses to argue that paternal power is not political power every chance he gets, which underscores the importance of his primary argument that absolute monarchies, which invoke paternal power, are an illegitimate form of government. This also highlights another of Locke’s primary arguments, which is that power over another is always limited—unless that power is taken during a state of war, as anyone who consents to enter a state of war forfeits their right to life and reason.
Themes
Thus, a master and his family—including his wife, children, servants, and slaves—are united under domestic rule. While this may seem like a miniature common-wealth, Locke says, it isn’t. Therefore, in an absolute monarchy, the monarch, or paterfamilias, can have only limited power over the people. Paternal power is limited in duration and extent, and with the exception of slaves, the paterfamilias has no power of life or death over anyone.
This again points to Locke’s belief that absolute monarchies are an illegitimate form of government, and the power they claim to invoke is insufficient for the extent to which they use it. Furthermore, any power relationship within domestic rule, save for the master/slave relationship, is based on consent, which an absolute monarch does not have.
Themes
Literary Devices
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In nature, humans are born under the law of nature in a state of perfect equality, and they have the right to preserve their life, freedom, and property. One can punish those who violate laws against them, up to and including death. Thus, no political society can exist without the power to preserve life and property and punish those who break the laws, Locke maintains. In a political society, one gives up their power of self-preservation and punishment to the common-wealth, and the common-wealth becomes the “umpire” by setting basic rules to be followed by everyone. Those who have joined in one body with common laws and a common authority in which to appeal live in civil society with each other. Without an authority to appeal to, one is in a state of nature.
Locke later repeats the idea of the common-wealth as “umpires” for the common good, which suggests the common-wealth is responsible for making sure the people are taken care of in the best way possible. Thus, they are “umpires” for deciding when their government—in England, the king—has acted against the common good, which can’t happen in an absolute monarchy. Implied within a state of nature is a state of war, since there is no one to settle disputes, and one must resort to force to receive reparations for transgressions against them.
Themes
When people join together in a common-wealth to form a body politic, the common-wealth must make laws for them, for the common good of the people. This takes one from a state of nature and puts them into a state of a common-wealth through the establishment of a judge to reign over disputes. Thus, an absolute monarchy, Locke says, is wholly inconsistent with civil society. Everyone must be subject to the authority, and if not, they are in a state of nature. No one can be safe or at rest, or think themselves part of civil society, under an absolute monarchy. Therefore, Locke argues, no one can be exempt from the law of a civil society. If one person believes they can do as they please without consequence or appeal, this is a state of nature, and not a civil society.
In an absolute monarchy, the king cannot be held to any law or power, and he can arbitrarily exert his power onto the people as he sees fit. An absolute monarch who rules according to their own will and desire is not acting in the common good of the people. The law of nature, which everyone is obligated to follow according to Locke, says one must always preserve their own life and the lives of others. A king abusing his subjects under arbitrary rule does not preserve the lives of his subjects. There is no recourse for a subject harmed by the king; thus, this is a state of nature.
Themes
