Quiz: Second Treatise of Government

All 32 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. At what age, by the law of England, does Locke say a son is presumed capable of knowing the law?

   Sixteen Twenty-five Twenty-one Twenty-four
2. 2. Why does Locke prefer “parental power” to “paternal power”?

   Because it passes from parents to the king Because Filmer used the word “parental” Because it is shared by all the elders of a tribe Because the mother has an equal title to it
3. 3. How does Locke answer the question of who shall judge whether the prince or legislative has acted contrary to their trust?

   The prince himself shall be judge The bishops shall be judge The courts of law shall be judge The people shall be judge
4. 4. What does Locke include under “the general name, property” in §123?

   Goods acquired by trade Land, cattle, tools and money Land and money only Lives, liberties and estates
5. 5. What image does Locke use for people who see a long train of actions all tending towards arbitrary power?

   Travellers lost on a moor at nightfall in winter Sheep who see the shepherd sharpening his knife Passengers steered towards Algiers Tenants whose landlord raises the rent every year without cause
6. 6. In § 28, which of these does Locke list as becoming his property by labour without anyone’s consent?

   The common of his parish The water in the river A neighbour’s ploughed field The turfs his servant has cut
7. 7. What does Locke say men would be doing if they accepted an absolute ruler for safety?

   Trading their sheep for a shepherd Avoiding pole-cats and foxes, but content to be devoured by lions Fleeing wolves only to meet bears Building high walls against robbers but leaving the gate open to the enemy
8. 8. According to §119, which of these is enough to give tacit consent to a government’s laws?

   Only voting in a parliamentary election Only owning land inherited for three generations Merely travelling on its highways Only swearing an oath of allegiance
9. 9. What limits how much a person may appropriate by labour in the beginning?

   As much as the whole community agrees to give him As much as he and his family can carry home As much as he can use before it spoils As much as he can defend by force of arms
10. 10. What does Locke say happened to the middle part of his answer to Filmer?

    It was lost, and he does not intend to rewrite it It was burned by the public hangman It was published separately as the Essay Concerning Human Understanding It was suppressed by order of King William
11. 11. Whose consent does Locke say is needed to levy taxes in §140?

    The consent of the prince’s council, acting on behalf of the people The majority’s consent, given by themselves or their representatives The consent of every single taxpayer, each giving it in his own person The consent of the House of Lords, as guardians of the landed interest
12. 12. Whose speeches to Parliament does Locke quote to show the difference between a king and a tyrant?

    Charles I James I Elizabeth I William III
13. 13. In the state of nature, who has the right to punish breaches of the law of nature?

    No one, until a government is set up Only the eldest father of a family Only the injured party Everyone
14. 14. Why may a man kill a thief who robs him on the road, but not one who has already stolen all he owns?

    In the robbery there is no time to appeal to the law, which can remedy the past theft Because the second thief has already repented Because a horse or coat is worth more than other goods Because the common law of England allows it, though the law of nature does not
15. 15. What does money allow, according to chapter V?

    Paying taxes to the government Restoring the earth to common ownership among all men Abolishing the need for labour Possessing more than one can use, without spoiling
16. 16. How does Locke define political power?

    The authority, derived from God, to judge matters of conscience and to punish men’s errors in religion Whatever power the strongest party can enforce over others, whether or not the people have consented to it The natural authority of a father over his household, extended by descent to the government of a nation A right to make laws, with death penalties, to preserve property, backed by the community’s force
17. 17. Which example does Locke give of men who are bound by their promises while in the state of nature?

    A Swiss and an Indian in America’s woods A captain and his crew cast away at sea Two English merchants in Lisbon Abraham and Lot in Canaan
18. 18. What name does Locke give to the power of war and peace, leagues and alliances?

    Ministerial Despotical Prerogative Federative
19. 19. Once people have consented to form one body politic, who does Locke say has the right to act for it and bind the rest?

    The majority Whoever commands the army Only a unanimous assembly The head of the eldest family
20. 20. What, according to Locke, is “the perfect condition of slavery”?

    Any contract by which a man sells himself and his heirs to another for life The condition of children under the absolute power of their father The state of war continued between lawful conqueror and captive The state of a subject under any monarch
21. 21. Which two cities does Locke cite as begun by free and independent men uniting by consent?

    Carthage and Tyre Rome and Venice Florence and Genoa Athens and Sparta
22. 22. In §173, what gives rise to despotical power?

    Forfeiture Inheritance Voluntary agreement Nature
23. 23. Which book does Locke recommend for a picture of absolute monarchy “grown to perfection”?

    The late relation of Ceylon Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity Filmer’s Patriarcha Garcilaso’s history of Peru
24. 24. What does Locke say a serjeant who can order a soldier to his near-certain death still cannot do?

    Order him to stand in a breach Punish him for desertion Take one penny of the soldier’s money Command him without a general’s order
25. 25. Whose appeal to heaven does Locke cite as the example of the state of war?

    David’s, against Saul in the wilderness Jephtha’s, against the Ammonites Moses’s, against Pharaoh Cain’s, after killing his brother Abel
26. 26. Why does Locke say money taken in war cannot match the value of conquered land?

    The conqueror’s soldiers keep all the money Money has only a fantastical, imaginary value, unlike the product of land Money is always returned to the defeated at the peace, by the law of nations Land cannot be bought with money
27. 27. Whose title does the preface say the book will make good “in the consent of the people”?

    King James II’s Oliver Cromwell’s William III’s King Charles II’s
28. 28. Even if William I had a right of conquest, what does Locke say about the Normans who came with him and their descendants?

    They lost their lands to the Saxons They stayed freemen, not subjects by conquest They owed him absolute obedience They became William’s slaves
29. 29. What remedy does Locke say the people have when there is no judge on earth between them and their rulers?

    To appeal to heaven To submit until the ruler dies To petition a foreign king To wait for the next parliament
30. 30. Which of these is not one of the three things Locke says the state of nature lacks?

    A known and impartial judge Power to back and support the sentence and give it due execution A standing army against foreign invasion An established, known law
31. 31. What absurdity of representation does Locke describe in §157?

    A town with hardly a sheepcote sending as many members as a county Shepherds outvoting the landowners in the elections of the shire courts Members sitting for towns in France A great county with no members at all in either house of Parliament
32. 32. Locke compares a thousand acres of uncultivated American land with ten acres where?

    Lincolnshire New England Huntingdonshire Devonshire