Two Essays on Government

Author: (English) Locke / Zhao Boying
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-05-01
Features: In the first part of Two Treatises of Government, Locke primarily criticizes the dominant views of traditional society—the divine right of kings and hereditary monarchy. In the second part, he discusses theories of the state and law. On the eve of a new society's arrival, Locke's book fulfilled a historic mission of heralding the world-significant English bourgeoisie revolution, exerting a tremendous on the economic and political development of Britain. As Marx pointed out: "It was the establishment of the constitutional monarchy advocated by Locke that marked the beginning of the great development and transformation of the bourgeois society in Britain. Under the constitutional monarchy, artisan workshops developed to an unprecedented scale, later giving way to large-scale industry, steam engines, and factories." Locke's ideas reflected the spirit of the times. His political and legal theories not only influenced Britain but also had a direct impact on the bourgeois revolutions in 18th-century America and France. His advocacy of natural rights, democracy, freedom, equality, and the rule of law aligned with the demands of historical development, and thus were fully reflected in bourgeois historical documents such as the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.