Question

Which Enlightenment principle most influenced the ideas in this excerpt?

Answer 1

Answer: John Locke's idea of the social contract

Explanation:

Assuming this is the excerpt: "...to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government."

John Locke's idea of the Social Contract was based on the notion that all people are equal and only form Governments by social contract amongst themselves because they want to protect the inalienable rights they already had as free peoples.

When a Government that was formed is now unable to do so, the people have to right to break that social contract and abolish the Government so that they might make another that will serve the purpose for which it is installed.