Two Tracts on Government
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"I doubt not but this will seem a very strange doctrine to some men: but before they condemn it, I desire them to resolve me, by what right any prince or state can put to death, or punish an alien, for any crime he commits in their country. It is certain their laws, by virtue of any sanction they receive from the promulgated will of the legislative, reach not a stranger: they speak not to him, nor, if they did, is he bound to hearken to them. The legislative authority, by which they are in force over the subjects of that commonwealth, hath no power over him. Those who have the supreme power of making laws in England, France or Holland, are to an Indian, but like the rest of the world, men without authority: and therefore, if by the law of nature every man hath not a power to punish offences against it, as he soberly judges the case to require, I see not how the magistrates of any community can punish an alien of another country; since, in reference to him, they can have no more power than what every man naturally may have over another."--Two Tracts on Government (1660) by John Locke |
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Two Tracts on Government is a work of political philosophy written in 1660 by John Locke but remained unpublished until 1961. It bears a similar name to a later, more famous, political philosophy work by Locke, namely Two Treatises of Government. The two works, however, have very different positions.
Structure
The work comprises two articles.
The first article is in English, entitled Question: whether the Civil Magistrate may lawfully impose and determine the use of indifferent things in Religious Worship, to which Locke replies affirmatively. The article is largely an attempt to refute Edward Bagshaw’s The Great Question Concerning Things Indifferent in Religious Worship, published a year earlier and advocating religious toleration.
The second article, in Latin, is entitled Template:Lang. In this article Locke elaborates on the concepts of law and authority upon which the first article is based.
Historical background
Between 1642 and 1651 England suffered several armed conflicts known as the English Civil War. These conflicts arose around religious tensions and questions of the King's right to rule. Locke, growing up in such an atmosphere and influenced by earlier writers such as Thomas Hobbes, feared liberty could lead to civil disturbance.
Tension between authoritarian and liberal views can be found already in this work. A few years later, Locke co-authored the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which promise religious toleration, but establish aristocracy, slavery and serfdom. In fact Locke himself became financially involved in slave trade during those years. Only later in his life did Locke come to endorse the liberalism he is known for, though he was continually involved with slave trade throughout his life.
