Which thinker authored Two Treatises on Government and emphasized natural rights and the right to rebel if the government is tyrannical?

• A. Hobbes
• B. Locke
• C. Montesquieu
• D. Voltaire

Answer: (B)

Natural rights and the right to resist tyranny are central here. John Locke is the thinker who links those ideas to government by consent in his Two Treatises on Government. In this work, he argues that people are born with natural rights—life, liberty, and property—and that governments exist to protect those rights. Because power is derived from the people, if rulers become tyrannical and violate these rights, the people not only may but morally may withdraw their consent and establish a new government. This view laid the groundwork for liberal political philosophy and influenced revolutionary movements that justify overthrow of tyrannical authority. The other thinkers were not the authors of this work and did not articulate the same justification for rebellion: Hobbes favored a strong sovereign to prevent chaos, Montesquieu emphasized the separation of powers, and Voltaire advocated for civil liberties but did not write these treatises.