Algernon Sidney and John Locke, who was apparently Sidney’s co-conspirator in a Whig attempt to overthrow the king, both argued for natural liberty and reasonable government based on popular consent. Their arguments, however, differ in the means advocated to reach the same end. Hence, this conference’s careful scrutiny of the similarities and differences between the authors’ arguments on such topics as property, reason, tyranny, and rebellion was helpful for understanding the main texts behind modern (not only American) “self-evident truths” about natural rights and good government.