There are different cases when the Government can dissolve. Some of them are because of the external reasons and some are because of the internal ones.
The external reasons of the dissolution of the Government is when there is violence coming from the out side of the given common-wealth. The conqueror destroys the Government itself, which causes the disintegration of the society, of the people. It is though clear, that one can not do with out the another and that “if the society is dissolved, it is certain the government of that society can not remain”.
The internal reasons are all connected to what the people expects from the Government. First of all, as said before, people want safety for the reasons of personal preservation. To make sure that this is justified there are the people, whom the people trust and put their trust in to by choosing them to be in the legislative. These representatives of the people are to make sure that” the members of the common-wealth are combined together into one coherent living body. This is the soul that gives form, life and unity to the it. So, there fore, if the legislative is in any way broken or dissolved then farther dissolution follows. Nobody is in the right without any authorization, to change the legislative and declare new laws, because if any one does so, with out any authorization given to him by the people to do this, the people are free not to fallow the new laws and not to obey them. However, this someone, who does in anyway affects the legislative without authorization or takes away the freedom, is the person who dissolves the Government. Any one who does this or in any way harms to the common-wealth must be punished. If this person has done anyone harm, he is to repay for it, for all the harm he has caused, not more, not less. The man he caused the harm to is in the right to wish for punishment and to want to pay back, nobody else, to whom the man did not bring any harm, is in the right to do so.
Another case when the Government in dissolved from the inside is when the magistrate , the prince violates his power and changes the ways of the election or alters one of the electors with out any consent and against the common interest of the people. This is also the violation of the legislative and if some are appointed to the legislative with out the consent of the society, they are not the just legislative appointed.
If people become subjects of foreign power by the prince or the legislative is also the abuse of power and alteration of the legislative, and thus leads to the dissolution of the Government.
The prince is the supreme magistrate and is the only one who has the power to affect and alter the legislative. Others, however, neither the members of the legislative nor the people have the right to do so. However, if the prince violates his power in uses it in other purposes then in the common interest of the people, he brakes the laws, and laws are not made for themselves and are to be executed, they are the bonds of the society keeping all pats together and politic in it’s due place and function. When this ceases, the Government ceases and dissolves. So when the prince or the legislative acts contrary to their trust, the legislative is abused and there fore the Government is dissolved.
Men entered the society, at the first place, to protect the themselves and their property and they trusted the Government to do so, to establish laws, riles as guards and fences to the properties of all members of the society. However, when the prince or the legislative don’t justify that and violate the rights of the people, like reducing them to slavery under arbitrary power, destroy the property of the people and abuses the legislative, the prince and the legislative put them selves in the state of war with the people, the whole society. The people are in the right not to obey them, for it is in God’s will that if any force and violence is used the people should be protected and not violated. When ever the magistrate powers, the prince or the legislative abuse their power and put violence against the society, hence they take away the power and the authority the had from themselves. Thus, the people having the right not to obey to the prince or the legislative, who abused their rights, can also dismiss them from their authority, and provide themselves safety and security by establishing new legislative.
However, Locke says that there are people who would say that if people constantly keep on dismissing the Government, if they don’t satisfy their needs and farther more violated them, “no Government will be able long to subsist, if the people may set up a new legislative, when ever they take offence at the old one”. Locke argues this by saying that people desire safety, and when forming the common-wealth it is an obligation of the Government to provide it to the people, so when the old legislative has acted contrary to their trust by invading their property, the new legislative is the best fence against rebellion. There is more violence and tyranny, when people tolerate it and don’t fight back to make things better, and if they do the people violating their rights, that is the prince and the legislators, will keep on with their deal and will not stop with the aggression towards the society. Therefore the people must fight back, not to be miserable and to demolish the tyranny and the abuse of the people.
People don’t want to keep on bringing changes to the state, which will have ill affects on the society if no Government stays put for long enough to improve the situation in the common-wealth. The society does this only when there are great mistakes done by the authorities in the ruling part.
Locke also thinks that if the king does not justify the trust put on him by the people, he is also to repay for his violations and without any privileges, like Barclay said that the king should be resisted and he should pay for the crimes committed, but he must not be taken revenge on, for he is the king and “the inferior can not punish a superior” and that if the king is resisted, it must be done with reverence. However Locke finds this ridiculous and says that there is “no resistance with out striking back”. Locke says that once the king has violated the rights of the people, gives up all care and thought of the common-wealth and has abused his own power he is no longer to be an authority, ceases to be a king and becomes a like other man who have no authority.
When the peoples rights are abused and the authorities have neglected their requirements, people become the judge and they are to decide in the state of war, when the authorities come against the society, if the Government is to be demolished, because it was them who elected the Government.
When people enter the society of the common-wealth and give up the power that every individual gave the society, they can never return it back and it will always remain in the community, because with out this there can be no community, no common-wealth, every thing comes back only to the society. However, after giving up their power of individuals, they are in the right to ask for something in return. The people are at liberty to provide for themselves, by erecting new legislative, differing from the other , by the change of this, they shall find it most for their safety and good, because nobody can take away from a person the right to preserve himself , which can only be settle by legislative and a fair and impartial execution of the laws made by it. People in the common-wealth are in the right to use their natural right to preserve themselves and to choose what’s better for them and the society.
Bibliography:
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John Locke Second Treatise of Government
Edited by C.B. Macpherson
[Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1980]
Original 1690
John Locke Second Treatise of Government p.9
John Locke Second Treatise of Government p.65
John Locke Second Treatise of Government p.107-108
John Locke Second Treatise of Government p.109
