John Locke

Here is some information will help you with your task.

  • First you should know that I am English.
  • I was born August 29, 1632 and died October 28, 1704
  • Many of my ideas can be found in the American Declaration of Independence
  • I fled to the Netherlands in 1683 because my own ideas were dangerous to speak at the time
  • I set forth the idea of a social contract. What this means is that the individual gives up some rights to a government in exchange for social order.
  • Government exists because the people consent to it.

Here is your document:

"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will
cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states.
Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory.
I can see that the end is worth all the means.
This is our day of deliverance."- John Adams


Drafting the Declaration of Independence
(from left - Franklin, Adams, Jefferson)

The Declaration of Independence, approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, is a statement of the principles that 2 days earlier had led Congress to vote for the independence of the American colonies from Great Britain. It was designed to influence public opinion, both at home and abroad, especially in France, to which the United States looked for military support.
The drafting of the document was entrusted to a committee consisting of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Because of Jefferson's reputation as a literary craftsman, the committee assigned the task to him, and with minor exceptions it is his work. Jefferson drew upon a long oppositionist tradition in Britain, as well as the English and French Enlightenments, as sources for his ideas; his language and the structure of his argument, however, most closely parallel the natural-rights theories of John Locke. In justifying England's Glorious Revolution of 1688, Locke had advanced the contract theory of government, arguing that all "just" governments are founded on consent and are designed solely to protect people in their inherent rights to life, liberty, and property. Radical proponents of this theory had used it to justify civil disobedience whenever government encroached on any of the specified rights; the more conservative Jefferson held that resistance is justified only when a consistent course of policy shows an unmistakable design to establish tyranny.

Signing the Declaration of Independence - July 2, 1776

In one key respect Jefferson used Natural Law instead of natural-rights theory, substituting "the pursuit of happiness" for "property" in the trinity of inalienable rights. In this change, derived from the Swiss legal philosopher Emerich de Vattel, he emphasized public duty rather than (as the language seems to indicate) personal choice, for natural law theory is that happiness is attainable only by diligent cultivation of civic virtue.

Source:

Questions: Please answer on a separate sheet of paper

Please demonstrate your knowledge of what I have given to the world by answering the following questions:

1. What is a social contract? (2-3 sentences)

2. In what way could Britain's violation of it's social contract with the colonies lead to a Declaration of Independence? (3-5 sentences)

3. Who were the contributors to the Declaration that were influenced by enlightened thought? (list 3)

4. What are some rights that Locke and Jefferson believed to be inherent or natural? (list 3 specific rights)

5. How is the current health of the social contract between your government and you? (2 solid paragraphs using 4 specific points from the reference)