Born in 1632 in Somerset, England, Locke was the son of an attorney in a middle-class family. In 1652 he went
to Oxford and studied medicine. The first earl of Shaftesbury introduced Locke to the world of politics, and early
in their association, Locke served as secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and secretary to the Lords
Proprietors of the Carolinas. In 1696, Locke was made Commissioner of Trade, a position he held for several years
before his death in 1704.
Summary
The Second Treatise is one of the most important political treatises ever written and one of the most far-reaching in its influence.
In his provocative 15-page introduction to this edition, the late
eminent political theorist C. B. Macpherson examines Locke's arguments
for limited, conditional government, private property, and right of
revolution and suggests reasons for the appeal of these arguments in
Locke's time and since
