The First Treatise of Government

In this brief, three-page chapter, Locke argues that either one living man is Adam’s rightful heir, in which case all the world’s sovereigns but one are illegitimate, or no such heir exists. Locke opens with a quotation from Observations in which Filmer admits that no matter the size of a multitude, only one man among them may be king. This doctrine, according to Locke, “dissolves the bands of government and obedience” (122).

In Chapter 11, which is more than twice the length of any other chapter, Locke struggles to identify the heir to Adam’s monarchical power over the world. Using Filmer’s writings, Locke attempts to trace the descent of Adam’s power through Scripture. Locke finds no clarity in Filmer’s account. Furthermore, Locke insists that the Book of Genesis, contrary to Filmer’s assertions, proves that eldest sons did not inherit dominion over their brethren, which makes it impossible to trace Adam’s heir even through the first book in the Bible. Locke views this as a central problem in Filmer’s entire argument, for it is more important to identify a specific heir than to establish the mere principle of divine-right monarchy. God never identified such an heir, Locke suggests, because God never intended that