The function of government - regulation and preservation of property.
    This claim implies, of course, that for Locke, property ALREADY exists in the natural condition.

The state of nature - a condition of freedom and equality in which each person is free to "dispose of his person and possessions as he sees fit within the bounds of the law of nature."  For Locke, the state of nature is to be used as a measure of the rights people ought to retain in the political state.
    What is the Lockean Law of Nature?  An obligation to preserve oneself and, when one's own life "comes not in competition," one ought, "as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind" and not interfere in others' rights to life, liberty, or property.
        Locke's view appears to be that people will generally follow the law of nature because they are naturally rational and not given to constant war (as Hobbes supposed).

The state of war - a consequence of the state of nature OR of a political state that is contrary to the natural rights that people possess.  The S of W occurs when one or more people attempt to put another person or persons under their absolute, arbitrary power.
    For Locke, the state of war shows why government is necessary, but also why it must be limited - to protect and regulate property.  It must be limited in order to preserve peace, life, and property.
    The state of war is caused by a "noxious few" who do NOT make conditions in the state of nature unbearable, but instead make it INCONVENIENT.  It is inconvenient to have to be the enforcer, the judge, the jury, and the executioner of the requirements of the law of nature.  The creation of a political society would cure the inconveniences of the natural condition.  But no Lockean would EVER found a government that caused them more trouble than they had in the natural condition.  Locke puts it like this, in section 93:  "To ask how yo may be guarded from harm, or injury, on that side where the strongest hand is to do it, is presently the voice of faction and rebellion:  as if when men quitting the state of nature entered into society, they agreed that all of them but one, should be under the restraint of laws, but that he shoudl still retain all the liberty of the state of nature, increased with power, and made licentious by impunity. This is to think, that men are so foolish, that they take care to avoid what mischiefs may be done them by pole-cats, or foxes; but are content, nay, think it safety, to be devoured by lions."
    For Locke, then, to establish an absolute government is not only practically absurd, it is also logically absurd.  Why would a person who wishes to protect his life and property submit to a government that could take both away?  Absolute government would be self-defeating.  At least in the natural condition, every person has a right to self-defense.  Why would a person who possesses in himself LESS THAN ABSOLUTE POWER OVER HIMSELF ever be able to grant absolute power to anyone else?  You can't give to another more than you have.

How does Locke argue for the natural right to property?

God as creator/man as creation---> Property in one's own person/the gift of life is given by God --> Property in one's own person --> Property in one's own labor --> Property in "necessities" gained by labor --> The "spoilage limitation" -->  How does one transcend the spoilage limitation?  Results in unequal, but not unjust, distribution.
    Locke describes the condition of nature as generally abundantly supplied with necessities.  Compare this to Hobbes's claims about scarcity.
For Locke, law, morality, justice and property all exist prior to the formation and establishment of government and any government that transgresses the law of nature has put itself into a state of war with its own citizens.  AND SO, REVOLUTION IS JUSTIFIED AGAINST A GOVERNMENT WHEN IT VIOLATES THE NATURAL RIGHTS OF ITS CITIZENS.
    Notice that in Hobbes's contract theory, revolution is never justified UNLESS the government fails reasonably to assure the maintenance of the lives of its citizens from danger INTERNAL to the government/society created.