Algernon Sidney
English republican executed in 1683; his Discourses Concerning Government defended resistance to tyranny.
Ask Algernon Sidney a question
Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.
Who he was
Algernon Sidney was an English republican who was executed in 1683.
His Discourses Concerning Government defend resistance to tyranny and hold that government is instituted for the good of the governed.
Why he is at the Seat
Sidney is on the Lutz-based roster. He is the Seat's voice on tyranny and on a people's right to resist it.
What we hold
- Editions
- Discourses Concerning Government (scanned text of the 1704 printing)
- Size
- About 300,000 words. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
Known limits
- Only rough scanned text of 1704 type. Quotations keep the old long s as scanned ("fhewing" for "shewing"), with a note.
- His Court Maxims and letters are absent.
Questions he answers well
The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.
- May a people resist a tyrant, and on what grounds?
Published answers
- What is the difference between a king and a tyrant?
- Can a people change its form of government?
- Does liberty make nations strong and virtuous?
- Are laws above kings?
- Where does the power of magistrates come from?
- Is mixed government better than absolute monarchy?
- Is monarchy by divine right a legitimate claim?
- May a people resist a tyrant, and on what grounds?
More in Prior Questions.