{"id":613,"date":"2013-07-04T13:50:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T18:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/?p=613"},"modified":"2021-07-05T10:09:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T15:09:34","slug":"john-locke-on-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/2013\/07\/04\/john-locke-on-tyranny\/","title":{"rendered":"John Locke on Tyranny"},"content":{"rendered":"

“199. As usurpation is the exercise of power which another hath a right to, so
\ntyranny is the exercise of power beyond right<\/em><\/strong>, which nobody can have a right to;
\nand this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good
\nof those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage. When the
\ngovernor, however entitled, makes not the law, but his will, the rule, and his
\ncommands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of
\nhis people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or
\nany other irregular passion.” http:\/\/classicliberal.tripod.com\/locke\/2treat11.html<\/a>\u00a0[Emphasis added]<\/p>\n

In this manner John Locke began chapter 18 “Of Tyranny”\u00a0of his Second Treatise on Civil Government<\/em>.\u00a0 We must remember that he wrote this work during the 1680s in response to the Stuart Restoration of James II as king of England.\u00a0 Specifically, Locke sought to refute Sir Robert\u00a0Filmer’s Patriarcha<\/em> which argued in favor of absolute monarchy since kings are descended from Adam.\u00a0 He imagined monarchs to be like the fathers of their subjects.<\/p>\n

Locke’s First Treatise on Civil Government<\/em> examines and refutes Filmer’s work in great detail.\u00a0 In the Second Treatise Locke presents his own vision of civil government. A helpful overview of Locke’s thought is here\u00a0http:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/locke\/#TwoTreGov<\/a><\/p>\n

However, this summary does not emphasize Locke’s focus on the Bible as a key to his understanding of civil government.<\/p>\n

Of course, any magistrate or judge may become a tyrant.\u00a0 As Locke wrote in Second Treatise<\/em>,\u00a0Chapter 18 sec.\u00a0202. “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins, if the law be transgressed to another’s harm; and whosoever in authority exceeds the power given him by the law, and makes use of the force he has under his command to compass that upon the subject which the law allows not, ceases in that to be a magistrate, and acting without authority may be opposed, as any other man who by force invades the right of
\nanother.”\u00a0http:\/\/classicliberal.tripod.com\/locke\/2treat11.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The law binds the ruler or political authority as much as (or even more than?) it binds the individual.\u00a0 This idea laid the foundation for the English Bill of Rights in 1689, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the American Bill of Rights added to the U.S. Constitution in 1789.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“199. As usurpation is the exercise of power which another hath a right to, so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,33,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-john-locke","category-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2655,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions\/2655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}