ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the practical discourse of the A Letter Concerning Toleration, centred on civil peace and effective state governance. It will then outline its normative discourse centred on individual liberty, and the equal 'rights' which, Locke believes, individuals have to this liberty. Regarding the latter, it will investigate Jeremy Waldron's claim that the Letter is devoid of any of these normative elements, Locke instead, Waldron insisting, identifying, in this text, with the interests of persecutors at the expense of their victims. The immense influence of Waldron's interpretation of the Letter makes an analysis of his claims worthwhile. The fact that they are entirely at odds with the Locke who has been presented in the chapters up to now makes it imperative. Waldron's later work on Locke seeks to situate Locke's political philosophy within Locke's theological concerns, and the conception of equality that, Waldron believes, arises from them.
