Locke wanted to prove that the world is not a mere amalgam of violence and arbitrary authority and that there is something that separates a legitimate from an illegitimate government.
Milton argued that the state is not some quasi-divine entity ordained by God but is instead an organization legitimized by the consent of the governed.
On Liberty is not merely a political text explaining the intricacies of how the state ought to act. It is a love letter to the individual virtues of intellectual curiosity, tolerance, and open-mindedness.
