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Two Treatises of Government

by John Locke · 1689

Two Treatises of Government is English philosopher John Locke's principal work of political philosophy. It was published anonymously in 1689, after the Glorious Revolution, but likely drafted 1680-81 during the Exclusion Crisis (1679–81). The First Treatise attacks patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of the late Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, which argues for a divinely ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy, ideas which remained current with living defenders. The Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory, with government requiring the consent of the governed, and, under limited circumstances, the right to overthrow the ruler.…

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