page_title: Algernon Sidney
section_title: Discourses Concerning Government
hierarchical_section_title: Algernon Sidney / Discourses Concerning Government
caption_attribution_description: Sidney, Algernon: "Discourses concerning government", London 1698
context_page_description: Algernon Sidney or Sydney was an English politician and member of the middle part of the Long Parliament. A republican political theorist, colonel, and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of England, he opposed the king's execution. Sidney was later charged with plotting against Charles II, in part based on his most famous work, Discourses Concerning Government, which was used by the prosecution as a witness at his trial. He was executed for treason. After his death, Sidney was revered as a "Whig patriot–hero and martyr".
  The works of Algernon Sidney, along with those of contemporary John Locke, are considered a cornerstone of western thought. Discourses Concerning Government cost Sidney his life. However, the ideas it put forth survived and ultimately culminated in the Glorious Revolution in England and the founding of the American Republic. Sidney directly opposed the divine right of kings political theory by suggesting ideas such as limited government, voluntary consent of the people and the right of citizens to alter or abolish a corrupt government. Discourses Concerning Government has been called "the textbook of the American revolution."
context_section_description: For Sidney absolute monarchy was a great political evil. His Discourses Concerning Government (the text for which Sidney lost his life) was written during the Exclusion Crisis, as a response to Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, a defense of divine right monarchy, first published in 1680.  The divine right of kings is a political system in which all powers of government are vested solely in the king and granted to him by God.  Under this system, the king acts as God's hand on earth.  His power extends beyond government into the private religious life of his subjects.  Under this system, citizens were often persecuted and imprisoned for their religious beliefs.  It is this divine right of kings government that Sidney strongly opposed.  In 1698, his Discourses Concerning Government was published outlining what he believed constituted a valid civil government.
  Sidney believed that the individuals have the right to choose their own form of government and that, if that government became corrupt, the people retained the power to abolish it and form another.  In his own words, "God leaves to man the choice of forms in government ... He who institutes, may also abrogate."
  Sidney also argued that for a valid civil government to exist, it must be formed by general and voluntary consent.  Sidney states in his Discourses Concerning Government that, "General consent ... is the ground of all just governments."
  Furthermore, Sidney believed that civil government should have limited jurisdiction.  He said the, "only ends for which governments are constituted and obedience rendered to them, are the obtaining of justice and protection."  This suggests a limited civil government whose primary purpose is to 1) render legal justice through its court system and 2) provide for the safety of its citizens.  We can also conclude from Sidney that, if a government fails to accomplish these basic components, obedience to that government is no longer required.
  Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government along with Locke's Two Treatises on Government are recognized as critical works in the founding of the United States of America.  The founding fathers read and studied these works during their years as students in the early colonial universities.  Thomas Jefferson in particular, is known to have heavily studied and researched the works of Locke and Sidney. The Discourses Concerning Government has been called the "textbook of the American Revolution."
caption: Sidney, Algernon: Discourses concerning government, London 1698
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