Abstract

Historians of the last generation and a half have engaged in a comprehensive reevaluation of John Locke's influence. Long regarded as one of the most important political theorists of the modern era, Locke's ideas, especially as expressed in his Two Treatises on Government are now dismissed as irrelevant to political debate in the eighteenth century. J. P. Kenyon, J. G. A. Pocock, and J. C. D. Clark have all endeavored to describe the limits of political discussion without any positive reference to Locke. This dissertation seeks to overturn some of their conclusions. In particular, it demonstrates that Lockean liberalism was an important element of low church Anglicanism and Whig political propaganda. It also highlights the role of Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, in bringing Locke's ideas before a wide audience