In other words, all are interested in the prevalence of peace and the rightful settlement of disputes.

That this work may surely be done, it is obvious that society must appoint certain persons to attend to it; that is, society organizes _to establish justice._ Communities take their character from that of the individuals composing them, therefore communities are selfish.

A third reason appears, then, for the organization of society, namely, _the common defense._ But this organization of society is the very thing that we call government.

We may, therefore, answer the two questions proposed at the beginning in this way: _Government is the organization of society to carry on public works, to establish justice, and to provide for the common defense._ The term _government_ is also applied to the body of persons into whose hands is committed the management of public affairs.
To show that government is a necessity to man, let us imagine a company of several hundred men, women, and children, who have left their former home on account of the tyranny of the government.

So harshly have they been treated, that they have ascribed all their misery to the thing called government, and they resolve that they will have none in their new home.
They discover an island in the ocean, which seems never to have been occupied, and which appears "a goodly land." Here they resolve to settle.
They help each other in building the houses; each takes from the forest the wood that he needs for fuel; they graze the cattle in a common meadow; they till a common field and all share in the harvest.