As a work of political theory and philosophy, Locke’s Second Treatise has no conventional narrative and therefore no physical setting in space.
Its historical context, however, is vital to understanding where Locke was coming from—he wrote The Second Treatise in the aftermath of a revolutionary period in England, in which William III, an Anglican, removed James II, a Roman Catholic, from the throne. As Locke begins his work:
Reader, thou hast here the beginning and end of a discourse concerning government; what fate has otherwise disposed of the papers that should have filled up the middle, and were more than all the rest, it is not worth while to tell thee. These, which remain, I hope are sufficient to establish the throne of our great restorer, our present King William; to make good his title, in the consent of the people, which being the only one of all lawful governments, he has more fully and clearly, than any prince in Christendom […]
Locke believes in William’s cause and that William is the rightful ruler of England because of the way that he governs—thus spurring Locke’s reflection in the subsequent chapters on government and monarchy and, implicitly, the ways that William’s reign is inherently just and good for England.
