During the 17th century, most countries were ruled by a single monarch. No power was given to the common people of society. Thus, many ordinary people became victims of a monarch's abuse of power. John Locke was an important philosopher during this time because he had a vision that had not been traditionally talked about or expressed before. John Locke describes his ideal society in his book The Two Treatises of Civil Government: "To fully understand political power and derive it from its original, we must consider in what state all men are naturally found, viz. a state of perfect freedom. in order to order their actions and to dispose of their property and their persons as they please, within the limits of the law of nature, without asking permission or depending on the will of another man.”