About the Author
Born in 1632 in Somerset, England, John Locke was the son of an attorney in a middle-class family. In 1652 he went to Oxford and studied medicine. The first earl of Shaftesbury introduced Locke to the world of politics, and early in their association, Locke served as secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and secretary to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas. In 1696, Locke was made Commissioner of Trade, a position he held for several years before his death in 1704.
