Question

Which Enlightenment philosopher most directly influenced the Declaration of Independence? Use evidence from the Declaration of Independence below to support your answer.
Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.-That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers fro the consent of the governed,-That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Objective evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history or repeated injuries and usurpations, all having direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be summited to a candid world.

Answer 1

Hi!!
While writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson used thoughts from philosopher John Locke. The phrase "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," was previously an idea created by Locke in his book, Two Treatises of Government.