In his own exegesis of the phrases "dominion" and "every living thing," Locke employed his usual way of separating and distinguishing. This "grant of God" gave Adam (and hence men) the right to exercise "dominion," merely in the sense of economic power, over the earth and all irrational creatures. .
Of his major concerns, Locke reasoned that men in their natural condition were "free, equal, and independent." It was not a matter of their thinking themselves independent, for property was a physical relationship to external nature, and it was within the limits provided by this physical relationship that each individual could equally find room or space to exercise his freedom independently of other men. By being masters of themselves and proprietors of their own actions and labor, men had in themselves a great foundation of property and independence. "Every man has property of his own person," Locke reasoned. "This nobody has any right to but himself. The labour of his body and the work of his hands are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the State that Nature hath provided and left it in mixed his labour with, and joined to do it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property." At the level of subject matter, civil societies consisted of individuals who acquired by their physical actions something as their own, which was distant and separate from what other individuals had. .
By virtue of recognizing these God-given rights and laws of nature, through exercising dominion over oneself with regard to the rights of others, societies would benefit greatly in sustaining civility and morality. .
In so-called civil societies consisting of natural laws, however, we can easily forget that democratic principles are often embraced to effectively function as a community. According to Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the greatest possible number; for they emanate from the majority of citizens, who are subject to error, but who cannot have an interest opposed to their own advantage.