Question

Where did founders like Thomas Jefferson get inspiration for the ideals in the Declaration of Independence?

Answer 1

Our founding fathers got inspiration from basically the opposite of what Great Britain was doing at the time (the aspects of it that they disliked of course). Regardless of this, many traditions and ideas did come from Great Britain. Besides this the rest came from either the founding father's imagination ( of what a good government would be like) and books and other written text they could find.

Answer 2

The ideals came from Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke with his idea "life,liberty and property" basic natural rights