As with so much of John Locke’s political thought, his theory of resistance rights and its link to rebellion has evoked much controversy. The topic of this paper is precisely this dissention between Locke, who attacked absolutism and some of his opponents such as Hobbes who advocated it as the only feasible means of controlling the volatile and potentially dangerous masses. The objective here is to set out Locke’s ideas on government and resistance and then to follow it up with the counter arguments against him.