the declaration of independence of elaborates of the Enlightenment idea of?

Answer 1

I assume you are referring to the ideas of John Locke, but that's not quite how it worked.

Though it is true that some Enlightenment ideas --above all John Locke's ideas about "natural rights" and the "social contract" theory of government, were familiar to and popular with the founders--these ideas did NOT stand alone. They were not even necessarily the most important ideas to influence them.

In fact, if you look at the specific ideas and FORMS of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution you will find MUCH that continues long-developing British traditions. For example, language and arguments from the "English Bill of Rights of 1689" are echoed in the Declaration (not too surprising since that document ALSO was a public justification [by Parliament] of rejecting the rule of a British king), as well as in the Bill of Rights later incorporated in the U.S. Constitution.

We find that their ideas about their proper political rights as Englishmen had LONG roots. Locke may have helped them develop SOME of the arguments for the NATURE of these rights and WHY they existed, but the foundations rested on other traditions, and elements of their own (English) history. Indeed, throughout the 17th century, BEFORE any influence from Locke, colonists (esp in New England) had written up their understanding of the RIGHTS that were theirs as Englishmen.

In other words, Locke shaped SOME of the terms and arguments they used (e.g., "the right to life, liberty and property), and provided some of the arguments they used to support these ideas, esp. as expressed in the political pamphlets they wrote in the decades leading up to the Revolution. But when they came to write documents like the various Declaration-S of independence (including the many state declarations that preceded th national one), they drew MUCH of the language and the whole shape of the DECLARATION with its list of grievances from traditional historical forms that preceded Locke.

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A major source for exploring how the VARIOUS traditions influencing the revolutionaries all fit together --

A generation ago Bernard Bailyn, preparing a study of the political pamplets of the period leading up to the Revolution, wrote a long and BRILLIANT essay examining the VARIOUS sources and traditions that came together to shape the thinking expressed in these pamphlets, and later in the key founding documents of the U.S. He later expanded this into a separate book, *The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution* (Harvard University Press, 1967). Bailyn lays out a whole cluster of important traditions, chiefly the following

1) Works from classical antiquity (esp the political history of Rome)
2) Enlightenment ideas on government and natural rights (mainly Locke)
3) Traditions/the history of English Common Law, esp. as expounded by 17th century British authors.
4) Political and social theories of New England Puritanism, esp. ideas associated with covenant theology
5) The radical political and social thought of the English Civil War and Commonwealth period up to the Glorious Revolution -- that is 'opposition' authors of the late 17th and early 18th century

Bailyn argues that source #5 was critical in shaping and bringing together these various (and sometimes conflicting) traditions.

Another good source for studying the roots of the Declaration -- including the FORM it took -- check Paula Maier, *American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence*

You might wish to take a look at the English Bill of Rights see
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689

Answer 2

Actually it was the Englishman John Locke (1632 - 1704). Locke was the first to put down on paper that the ones who govern derive their power from the consent of the governed. If they did not like what those who governed were doing, they had the right of rebellion. That sure sounds like the gist of the Declaration of Independence. And his death in 1704 predates the D of I by 70+ years.

Answer 3

The peoples' right to throw off a government that fails to meet their needs and to replace it with another. In short, the Declaration asserts the "right of revolution." in the face of "a long train of abuses."

Answer 4

Kevin is right. The Dec. of Independence is all about Lock"ian" ideas and is couched in his terms.

Answer 5

The worth of the common man whereby governments rule at the will of the people they represent, and the people have the right to remove any government they feel does not represent their interests.

Chow!!

Answer 6

France.