Locke: Second Treaties On Government 1. What is the main idea or underlying value in the text?
2. What do you think "State of Nature" means?
3. What is Locke’s view of why we have government?
4. When can we dissolve our government?
5. What is the most important passage? Why? (Provide the quote)

1. What is the main idea or underlying value in the text?

The main idea is that governments are born out of the consent of the governed.

2. What do you think "State of Nature" means?

The state of nature to Locke, is the state of society prior to government, in which fierce and unfair competition among individiuals causes great conflict among groups of people, and makes progress an impossiblity.

3. What is Locke’s view of why we have government?

According to Locke, governments exist to protect the three basic natural rights that every person has: the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to property.

4. When can we dissolve our government?

Because governments are created because the governed consent, if the government does not act for the benefit of the people, then, the people have the right to dissolve it. This idea is known as the social-contract theory.

5. What is the most important passage? Why? (Provide the quote)

“Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.”

payments were made after the 1940s.

in the 1980s, a commission held investigations and made recommendations.