Vandaag

Where authority begins

Locke makes political power depend on consent and limitation: authority is not automatic but must come into being justly.

People are by nature free, equal, and independent. No one can be put out of this condition and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent. The only way anyone divests himself of natural liberty is by agreeing with others to form a community.

uit Second Treatise of Government · John Locke