John Stuart Mill's Second Treatise Of Government

John Locke discusses humanity’s emergence from the state of nature and formation of political entities in the 2nd Treatise of Government through an illustration of how these sociopolitical agreements were reached, what these new governments would have been like, and how the state of nature necessitated a new kind of political society as an immense benefit to mankind. In another poignant political work, Liberty, John Stuart Mill also provides his own observations of sociopolitical dynamics, and he argues for various limitations on the power that political societies should have over their individuals. The following essay will explore how the ideal political society of the 2nd Treatise is still one subject to forms of social tyranny through the

The text discusses how, in this state, individuals were completely autonomous and at liberty to dispose of themselves and their possessions as they wished, and that no one had any more power or authority than anyone else—essentially, a state of total political equality. The work does however claim that there exists a governing law to the state of nature, creating similar obligations for every individual, and Locke conveys it to be a primary concern for the preservation of one’s own property (he uses “property” as the comprehensive label for life, health, liberty and possessions ) that is influenced entirely by reason and principle. He further details how this transcendental law constituted the fabric through which the voluntary union of society emerged by creating a mutual—almost subconscious—agreement between human

This form of political representation necessitates that all branches, as well as individuals, adhere to a preconceived set of rules and regulations that broadly control the function of society. These rules become legislation, and its authors are the ‘legislative branch’ who selected by the populace for this purpose. Although this branch would seem to have ultimate control over its society, Locke delineates how little power legislators actually have once the society’s original legislature has been made, as: “The setting up of the legislature was the original and supreme act of the society […] Thus, once the legislature has been set up, the people have no power to act as long as the government stands”. The act of enforcing legislation thereby falls to what Locke terms the ‘executive branch’, or an individual: “considered as the image or representative of the commonwealth, empowered by the will of the society as declared in its laws; and thus he [it] has no will, no power, other than that of the law”. It is imperative to note that the executive’s power goes no further than enforcing the