190 Lollards
This selfish sin will tend to punish transgressors of
rights too harshly, unleashing retaliation and escalating
violence. Our “self love” makes us incapable of being
judges in our own cases. This dilemma gives rise to
government, in Locke’s theory.
Government is created by the consent of the gov-
erned when they realize the “inconveniences” of keep-
ing private justice in the natural state. A social
contract is formed whereby the citizens delegate to the
STATE the judicial function, protecting their natural
rights by establishing police, courts, prisons, and so
on. This Lockean liberal government is “limited” to
protecting an individual’s natural rights to life, liberty,
and property by adjudicating disputes over rights,
punishing criminal violators of others’ rights, and
maintaining social peace.
If the state itself invades the rights of citizens by
killing them, taking their property, or imprisoning
them unjustly, it is the right of the people to abolish it
and establish a new government that will perform its
duties properly. This is Locke’s famous “right of revo-
lution,” which British Parliamentarians used in the
revolution of 1688, and Jefferson used to justify Amer-
ican colonial independence from Great Britain. The
idea of a peoples’ right to overthrow an oppressive,
TYRANNICALgovernment has justified numerous revolu-
tions since Locke’s time.
One of the main purposes of the state for Locke is
the preservation of private property, which has caused
critics to accuse him of being an apologist for early
CAPITALISM. Locke’s LABOR THEORY OF VALUEmaintains
that a person’s mixing labor or work with nature gives
the person legitimate title to its produce. This is
bound by the MEDIEVAL“spoilage limitation”—that no
one can possess more property than he or she can use
before it spoils, but the invention of money in imper-
ishable metals (gold and silver) allows unlimited
accumulation of wealth. Hiring the labor of another
allows wage-capital relations indicative of MODERN
market, INDUSTRIALeconomics. Because the state is
supposed to protect property, and because the
employer-employee contract is a kind of property, this
obliges all with work (or any use of the country’s
facilities) to obey the LAW. Hence, all people living in a
nation give tacit consent to the laws. Critics of Lock-
ean liberalism claim that most workers have little
choice in the matter, and therefore the capitalist state
is not LEGITIMATE(see Karl MARX). But this view of free
humans, rights, EQUALITY, and private property pro-
tected by a limited state continue to have appeal with
CONSERVATIVE, LAISSEZ-FAIRE REPUBLICANS(like Ronald
REAGAN), LIBERTARIANS (Robert NOZICK), and liberal
individualists generally.
John Locke also advocated religious freedom and
separation of CHURCH AND STATE. For him, in A Letter
Concerning Toleration(1689), a government compelling
religious faith and persecuting unbelievers is a violation
of the spirit of Christ and infringes on personal liberty
of conscience. The proper CHRISTIANmeans of salvation
are persuasion and prayer, not legal requirements and
punishments.
The son of an English Puritan soldier in Oliver
CROMWELL’s parliamentary army, John Locke attended
Christ Church (College), Oxford University. His pri-
mary work on political philosophy is the book, The
Second Treatise of Government(1689).Further Readings
Coleman, J. John Locke’s Moral Philosophy.Edinburgh: Edin-
burgh University Press, 1983.
Cox, R. H. Locke on War and Peace.Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon
Press, 1960.
Gough, J. W. John Locke’s Political Philosophy.Oxford, Eng.:
Clarendon Press, 1973.
Grant, Ruth Weissbourd. John Locke’s Liberalism.Chicago: Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, ca. 1987.
Harris, Ian. The Mind of John Locke: A Study of Political Theory in
Its Intellectual Settings.Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1994.
Martin, C. B. (Charles Burton). Locke and Berkeley: A Collection
of Critical Essays.C. B. Martin and D. M. Armstrong, eds.
Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.
Pangle, Thomas L. The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The
Moral Vision of the American Founders and the Philosophy of
Locke.Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1988.
Yolton, John W. John Locke & Education,1st ed. New York: Ran-
dom House, 1971.Lollards
An early Protestant group in England that led into the
PURITANmovement of Oliver CROMWELLand REPUBLI-
CAN IDEOLOGY. Originally followers of religious
reformer John WYCLIFFEin the 14th century. The Lol-
lards took an INDIVIDUALISTICand DEMOCRATICview of
CHRISTIANpolitics (in CHURCH AND STATE) including an
emphasis on a personal faith (relationship to God
through Jesus Christ without intermediate priestly
function); private revelation from the Bible (without
interpretation from the official church); divine elec-
tion (the predestination view of St. AUGUSTINE and
John CALVIN); and the EQUALITYof believers. Like later