Second Treatise By John Locke Summary

The year of 1689 was a year of change. With the beginning of the Glorious Revolution starting just a year preceding, and King James II being overthrown, the time was prime for John Locke to speak out. John Locke wrote the book Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration as written proof of his personal opinion. He speaks out to the reader precisely about his feelings and why he is argumentative against others views. Locke’s purpose in writing this book was to not only attack Sir Robert Filmer’s “Patriarcha (Locke Page 7)” in the First Treatise, but to speak out to the community about what they do not know in the Second Treatise. It is to expand the knowledge and rise of William III (William of Orange) after the recent overthrow of the King. Even though it was published anonymously, it still got people’s attention. It is not common for a member of the community to speak out against the King. He was letting his fellow community know that as a whole it is possible to take charge of the government
During the First Treatise, Sir Robert Filmer causes some uproar that Locke does not take well to. According to Filmer, the biblical Adam was the father of all. He has authority and power over all. He states, “That all government is absolute monarchy. And the ground he build on is this, that no man is born free (Locke Page 8).” With Filmer claiming Adam’s authority was from all of his complete personal ownership, Locke disagreed by stating Adam was not, and did not have any authority over mankind. This lead to Locke explaining towards the end of the Treatise that the “doctrine of divine rights of king will lead to the failure of all governments (Locke page 91).” With this convincing evidence, that leads into the Second Treatises John Locke wrote titled An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent, and End of Civil