When righting the decleration of independance Thomas Jefferson drew on Jhon Locke's concept of?

Question

Options
a)taxation
b)natural rights
c)reconciliation
d)racial eqality
thx alot

Answer 1

The obvious answer is "b". But it is mistaken to think that this idea was simply and directly taken from Locke.

For starters, Jefferson was not writing an original document in the Declaration. He drew heavily on the arguments and even the language of state declarations that preceded it (esp. George Mason's, recently written for Virginia)... then polished it with some of his own phrasing.

In fact, the basic shape and arguments of the Declaration went back even further -- being based on the English Bill of Rights of 1689 (which was used by Parliament to explain and justify the Glorious Revolution -- when THEY rejected one monarch for a set of abuses they listed, and replaced him with another).

As for "pursuit of happiness". This was NOT original with Jefferson, but was also found in Locke... Note the following:

By "property," Locke meant MORE than land and goods that could be sold, given away, or even confiscated by the government under certain circumstances. Property also referred to ownership of one's self, which included A RIGHT TO PERSONAL WELL BEING. Jefferson, however, substituted the phrase, "pursuit of happiness," which Locke and others had used to describe FREEDOM OF OPPORTUNITY as well as the duty to help those in want.
http://www.crf-usa.org/Foundation_docs/Foundation_lesson_declaration.htm

In fact, you can see this connection by looking at
the very first paragraph of the "Virginia Declaration of Rights" (the document I mentioned above, written by George Mason in 1776, JUST BEFORE the Declaration of Independence).

Note how his list pulls together "property" and "pursuit of happiness" --

"That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."
http://odur.let.rug.nl/%7Eusa/D/1776-1800/independence/virdor.htm

Finally, as folks like Bernard Bailyn has shown (in his classic *The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution*), the ideology of the Revolution, included what was expressed in the Declaration, drew on a VARIETY of influences, that all came together, including such things as the Puritan concept of "covenant" (and hence of government by compact/consent).

Similarly, Locke's OWN ideas owe something to gradually developing British "constitutional" ideas with a long history before his time. Thus, using "Lockean" language does NOT mean the ideas were simply those of Locke, much less that it was all original with HIM.

Answer 2

B-Natural rights
John Locke believed everyone was entitlied to life, liberty, and property. Obviously the US government could not feasibly give everyone an equal amount of equally valuable property. Thomas Jefferson like the core concept however and changed it to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Answer 3

B. Natural rights

John Locke was committed to the idea of everyone having natural rights, inherent to them simply by birth. He came up with the idea of the rights to life, liberty, and property. Thomas Jefferson later borrowed his ideas to write the Declaration of Independence, which he wrote as the "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".

Answer 4

natural rights bro and the concept of gettin hella honeys, slaves or not. that was john locke bro, he did it first