Practice a College Board-style Short Answer Question on Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments. Write your response, then reveal the model answer to see exactly what earns each point.
"Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent... The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community... And this puts men out of a state of nature into that of a commonwealth, by setting up a judge on earth, with authority to determine all the controversies, and redress the injuries that may happen to any member of the commonwealth."
Locke claims that all people are naturally "free, equal, and independent," and that no one can be placed under another's political power without their own consent. Legitimate government, in his view, arises only when free individuals voluntarily agree to join together into a political community ("commonwealth").
Thomas Hobbes, writing in Leviathan (1651), argued that life in the state of nature was "nasty, brutish, and short," so rational people would surrender their natural rights entirely and permanently to an absolute sovereign in exchange for order and security. This differs sharply from Locke's view, since Hobbes's sovereign could not legitimately be overthrown even if it failed its subjects, while Locke held that government remained accountable to the people's consent. (A response could alternatively contrast Locke with Rousseau's "general will," which locates authority in the collective community rather than in protection of individual natural rights.)
Rulers such as Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria adopted selective Enlightenment-inspired reforms — including legal codification and religious toleration — that echoed Enlightenment concern for individual rights and rational government, as seen in Locke's emphasis on protecting people's natural liberties. However, these monarchs stopped well short of Locke's vision of government by consent: they preserved centralized, autocratic authority rather than allowing political power to depend on the agreement of the governed.