Discourses Concerning Government

work by Sidney

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June 25, 2026

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Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government (published 1698) argued for a limited monarchy rather than a republic, though it later became influential in the American colonies as a justification for revolution. Sidney, a Whig politician, was executed in 1683 for allegedly plotting against King Charles II, though his guilt was never definitively proven.1

The work explores the legitimacy of government, drawing on ideas of the social contract, where individuals consent to be governed in exchange for protection of their rights. Philosophers like John Locke, in his Two Treatises of Government, also discussed the social contract, emphasizing the preservation of natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and the people's right to revolt against a tyrannical government. These ideas provided a foundation for later democratic theories and political movements.234567

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Algernon Sidney
…from the manuscript of his Discourses Concerning Government (published in 1698) were introduced as evidence that he believed in the right of revolution. Although the treatise later became a popular “textbook of revolution” in the North American colonies, Sidney expressed in it a preference for a limited monarchy rather than…
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…from the manuscript of his Discourses Concerning Government (published in 1698) were introduced as evidence that he believed in the right of revolution. Although the treatise later became a popular “textbook of revolution” in the North American colonies, Sidney expressed in it a preference for a limited monarchy rather than…
Read More