Algernon Sydney is executed for treason: opposing the theory of Divine Right of Kings, and advocating limited government, voluntary consent of the governed and the right of the people to purge a corrupt government.

       Postscript: Fifteen years later, the Bookfellers company published his Discourses Concerning Government.  Discourses was written in refutation against Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha, which is a defense of the Divine Right of Kings.  In Section 11, Sydney writes: “That which is not just, is not Law; and that which is not Law, ought not to be obeyed.”

       [restored 10/19/2024]