Does John Locke's political treatise "Of Civil Government" condemn or condone slavery? Give specific examples from his text that reveal his thoughts on slavery, and compare them with the state of slavery in eighteenth-century Europe

Locke condemned slavery because he valued human freedom. The emphasis in Locke's view of the social contract is clearly placed on diversity of judgment and choice within a context defined by each person's ability to act according to his own will, that is, each person's ability to act freely. Thus, according to Locke, people do not have the freedom to follow their own wills when their conduct is governed by the chosen few elite like those that Hobbes advocated. So when people are controlled by government, the possibility arises that they are not acting according to their own wills.

This, to Locke, is a form of slavery because it denies people the freedom to make their own choices: "And thus every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation, to every one of that society, to submit to the determination of the majority" (ch. 8, 57-60). Since slavery involves complete and total power of one individual over another, it was clearly a contradiction of Locke's core beliefs.

Locke's condemnation of slavery is perhaps the most clear and determined when he asserts "Though the earth,...

The labor of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his" (ch, 5, 25-28). It seems quite apparent that Locke did not believe that any human being has a right to own another human being.
Locke's admonition of slavery was not unlike the sentiments expressed by abolitionists in eighteenth century Europe. According to Hochschild (2005) the development of the antislavery movement began in England in 1772. Communication was quickly established between Thomas Clarkson and the abolition societies in America. Although the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery had been established in 1775 (known as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society), the outbreak of hostilities had hindered any Anglo-American connection, and it was really not until after its reorganization under a new constitution in 1787 that the society began to flourish. It was then that Benjamin Rush, as one of its secretaries, was instructed to open a correspondence with Clarkson. He was also assigned to see to the distribution of the society's constitution, along with Clarkson's recent essay on slavery, to the governor of each state.

According to Hochschild's accounts, Clarkson's essay expressed many of the same sentiments conveyed by Locke. John Locke shared with the European abolitionists a moral disdain for the practice of slavery and an understanding the mere concept of slavery was a crime against nature. Of course, there were certainly hordes of pro-slavery advocates who view Locke's perceptions on slavery as 'rubbish', however these types of people were only living proof of Locke's concerns about the self-interests of man outweighing his feelings of humanity.