Locke on Consent, Revolution, and Limited Government

For Locke, political society is created only by the consent of its members, who agree to unite into one body politic under one government (Second Treatise, §95-99). Because unanimous, perpetual agreement on every decision is impractical, Locke argues that whoever enters society thereby submits to the determination of the majority, this being the only workable rule consistent with the very idea of a single political community acting as one body. Locke distinguishes express consent — an explicit promise or oath of allegiance — from tacit consent, which he controversially extends, in section 119, to anyone who merely possesses land within a commonwealth's territory, travels freely upon its highways, or even simply lodges within its bounds for a period, a criterion so broad that it has drawn sustained criticism, notably from David Hume's essay "Of the Original Contract" (1748), for effectively binding people who never meaningfully chose to be governed.