Essay: Locke’ views on Slavery in the light of ‘of Civil Government

Sample Essay

Protection of individual freedom is one the main views of John Locke in his political treatise “Of Civil Government” (Uzgalis). Locke observed liberty as the usual condition of humankind. “We must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man” (Locke 4).

The most effective element of this passage in admiration to the accurately progressive life of John Locke is his use of the phrase, “all men.” Locke considers all humans to be one and does not make any differentiation with respect to the creed, class, religion. In this respect, he also condemns slavery from being an element of differentiation among any nation that identifies itself to be “free.”

Slavery is simply defined as being enslaved or being controlled by the power of another human. Locke defines slavery to be an outcome of being an unfair antagonist overpowered in war. The person who wins can then either enslave the defeated human or kill him. Locke tries to inform us in his treatise that slavery is actually a continuity of the state of war among the legitimate defeated and an enslaved, in which the defeated hinders to kill the enslaved, and rather makes him a slave (Uzgalis).

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