The Reception of Locke's Politics:

From the 1690s to the 1830s

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Editor: Mark Goldie

It is time to reassess the impact of John Locke (1632–1704) on eighteenth-century Anglophone political thought. This reset edition provides the primary materials for new interpretations. It shows the salience of Locke's presence in the age of the American and French Revolutions, reprinting some of the leading documents in which Locke's authority was claimed both for and against the American rebels. Josiah Tucker's massive attack on Locke in 1781 is included here, together with a series of ensuing assaults upon, and defences of, `Mr Locke's democratical system'.

In these volumes can be traced the manner in which Locke became both the 'idol' of the Whig Settlement of 1689 and the key to unravel that settlement in the name of radical populism: a Locke made safe for Whig gentlemen, as well as a Locke who, in Mary Astell's words of 1706, prompted the question, 'If all men are born free, how is that all women are born slaves?', and a Locke who, in the hands of the socialist Thomas Hodgskin in 1832, stood up for the rights of the oppressed labouring man. In these six volumes Locke is debated across a gamut of genres: in formal treatises, polemical pamphlets, newspaper essays, political sermons, and cheap tracts aimed at politicizing the masses.

Contents

Volume 1: The Glorious Revolution Defended, 1690-1704

Anon., Political Aphorisms: Or, The True Maxims of Government (1690); Thomas, Earl of Stamford, Speech at the Leicester Quarter Sessions (1690); William Atwood, The Fundamental Constitution of the English Government (1690), Extracts; James Tyrrell, Bibliotheca Politica (1692), Third Dialogue; James Tyrrell, A Brief Disquisition of the Law of Nature (1693), Preface; Matthew Tindal, An Essay Concerning Obedience to the Supreme Powers (1694); William Molyneux, The Case of Ireland's being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England (1698); Walter Moyle, An Essay on the Lacedaemonian Government (1698); William Stephens, A Sermon Preached before the House of Commons (1700); Daniel Defoe, The Original Power of the Collective Body of the People of England (1701); John Dennis, Liberty Asserted (1704)

Volume 2: Patriarchalism, the Social Contract, and Civic Virtue, 1705-1760

Anon., An Essay upon Government: Wherein the Republican Schemes Reviv'd by Mr Lock are fairly Consider'd and Refuted (1705); Charles Leslie, The Rehearsals (1705), Extracts; Mary Astell, Some Reflections upon Marriage (1706), Preface; Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury, 'Letter to Michael Ainsworth' (1709); Benjamin Hoadly, The Original and Institution of Civil Government (1710), Part II; Anon., An Argument for Self-Defence (1710); George Berkeley, Passive Obedience (1712); Jean Barbeyrac, Selections from Basil Kennett's translation of the notes to Samuel Pufendorf, Of the Law of Nature and Nations (1717); John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato's Letters (1721-22), Extracts; James Pitt, The London Journal, 26 August 1732 and 22 December 1733; James Pitt, Daily Gazetteer, 20 December 1735; David Hume, 'Of Original Contract' (1748); Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, Fragments or Minutes of Essays (c.1740), X-XIII; Anon., Of Civil Polity (1753); Richard Hurd, Dialogues on the Uses of Foreign Travel Between Lord Shaftesbury and Mr Locke (1754)

Volume 3: The Age of the American Revolution, 1760-1780

James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764); Soame Jenyns, The Objection to the Taxation of our American Colonies (1765); Anon., The Boston Gazette, 17 March 1766 and 27 January 1772; Lord Camden, Speech to the House of Lords (1766); Richard Bland, An Enquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies (1766); Joseph Priestley, An Essay on the First Principles of Government (1768); Thomas Hutchinson, A Dialogue between an American and a European Englishman (1768); William Knox, The Controversy Between Great Britain and her Colonies Reviewed (1769); Extract; Samuel Adams, 'A State of the Rights of the Colonists', in The Votes and Proceedings of the Freeholders of Boston (1772); James Burgh, 'Inadequate Representation Universally Complained of', in Political Disquisitions (1774); Jonathan Boucher, 'On Civil Obedience, Passive Obedience, and Non- Resistance' (1775), in A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution (1797); Richard Price, Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty (1776); Peter Van Schaak, Papers for the Provincial Convention of New York (1776-77)

Volume 4: Political Reform in the Age of the French Revolution, 1780-1838

Josiah Tucker, A Treatise Concerning Civil Government (1781); Soame Jenyns, 'On Government and Civil Liberty', in Disquisitions (1782); Joseph Towers, A Vindication of the Political Principles of Mr Locke (1782); Baptist Noel Turner, The True Alarm: A Sketch of a Refutation of Mr Locke (1783); Matthew Dawes, The Nature and Extent of Supreme Power, In Which Mr Locke's Theory of Government is Examined and Explained (1783); Josiah Tucker, 'The Evil Consequences Arising from the Propagation of Mr Locke's Democratical Principles', in Four Letters on Important National Subjects (1783); Sir William Jones, The Principles of Government, in a Dialogue between a Scholar and a Peasant (1783); William Paley, 'The Duty of Submission to Civil Government Explained', in The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785); George Horne, 'Some Considerations on Mr Locke's Scheme of Deriving Government from an Original Compact' (c.1792), in The Scholar Armed (1795); Thomas Spence, The Rights of Man (c.1795); Jeremy Bentham, Fragment on the Original Contract (c.1796); John Bowles, 'Reflections on Mr Locke's System', in The Retrospect (1798); Thomas Elrington, Introduction to Locke's Second Treatise (1798); John Rutt, 'Defence of Locke against Lord Eldon', in The Monthly Repository (1807); D.M. Peacock, The Principles of Civil Obedience, Laid Down by Locke and Paley (1815); Robert Ward, 'The Opinions of Mr Locke', in An Historical Essay on the Real Character of the Revolution of 1688 (1838)

Volume 5: The Church, Dissent, and Religious Toleration, 1689-1773

Thomas Long, The Letter for Toleration Decipher'd (1689); Jonas Proast, The Argument of the Letter Concerning Toleration (1690); Jonas Proast, A Third Letter Concerning Toleration (1691); Jonas Proast, A Second Letter to the Author of the Three Letters for Toleration (1704); Josiah Martin, A Letter in Vindication of Women's Preaching (1716); Benjamin Hoadly, The Nature of the Kingdom, or Church, of Christ (1717); Benjamin Ibbot, The Nature and Extent of the Office of the Civil Magistrate (1720); William Warburton, The Alliance between Church and State (1736); Elisha Williams, The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants (1744); Philip Furneaux, An Essay on Toleration (1773)

Volume 6: Wealth, Property, and Commerce, 1696-1832

Sir Richard Temple, Some Short Remarks upon Mr Lock's Book, in Answer to Mr Lounds (1696); Nicholas Barbon, A Discourse Concerning Coining the New Money Lighter (1696); E Harris, Decus et Tutamen: Or, our New Money as now Coined (1696); James Hodges, The Present State of England, as to Coin and Public Charges, Treating of Mr Lock's Chief Positions (1697), Extracts; Henry Layton, Observations Concerning Money and Coin (1697); Anon., Sir Thomas Colepepper's Tracts Concerning Usury Reprinted. Shewing its Biting Quality on the Private and Publick. With some Animadversions on the Writings of Dr. Lock (1708); Anon, An Attempt to Show how far the Land and Trade of England... (c.1713); John Bulkley, 'Preface', in Roger Wolcott, Poetical Meditations (1725); Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, Essay in The Craftsman (1727); Thomas Rutherforth, 'Mr Locke's Opinion Examined', in Institutes of Natural Law (1754); William Ogilvie, 'Of the Right of Property in Land', in An Essay on the Right of Property in Land (1781); William Paley, 'In What the Right of Property is Founded', in The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785); Thomas Hodgskin, The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted (1832), Letters 1 and 2

Reviews

‘… a most valuable collection of texts that deserves to be in every major library visited by scholars and students interested in the political discourses of the eighteenth-century anglophone world...the availability of these texts in this superb modern edition should encourage readers to want to know much more about why they were written and what political purposes they were meant to serve.’
– H T Dickinson, Enlightenment and Dissent

‘an impressive scholarly achievement, showing wide learning and the fruits of much hard work. The texts are presented without excessive bibliographical punctiliousness, in many cases in their entirety, and with brief but helpful indications of the contexts in which they were penned.’
– John Dunn, English Historical Review

Related titles

• The Language of Whiggism : Liberty and Patriotism, 1802–1830

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