Two Treatises of Government

Two Treatises of Government (full title: Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government) is English philosopher John Locke's principal work of political philosophy. It was published anonymously in 1689, after the Glorious Revolution, but likely drafted 1680-81 during the Exclusion Crisis (1679-81). The First Treatise attacks patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of the late Robert Filmer's (c. 1588-1653) Patriarcha, which argues for a divinely ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy, ideas which remained current with living defenders. The Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory, with government requiring the consent of the governed, and, under limited circumstances, the right to overthrow the ruler. "There can be no doubt that the Second Treatise was, in its time and place, a revolutionary work." The book is a key foundational text in the theory of liberalism.

This publication contrasts with earlier political works by Locke himself. In Two Tracts on Government, written in 1660, Locke defends a conservative position; however, Locke never published this earlier work.