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John Locke And John Paine's Path To Freedom

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John Locke’s philosophical ideas during the enlightenment period were profoundly influential on the movement in Colonial America towards revolution. His ideas were consumed by Colonial America and eventually woven into our nation’s founding documents. The concept of “natural rights” and the right to life and liberty would become the cornerstone of American freedom and democracy. An idea that was reduced to two words, “natural rights,” would generate an influence that can be seen throughout the writings of American Revolutionary writers and become the single biggest influence on our path to freedom. Two words written almost a hundred years prior to 1776 moved an entire country to revolt and form a new government. Locke states in the Two Treatises of Government, “the state of nature has a law of nature to govern it.” These words formed what would simply be known as “natural rights”. Rights not provided by a government but rights every man or woman is naturally born with. Natural rights would go on to become a major building block in the foundation of our freedom and democracy. Locke’s idea of natural rights would be used by various revolutionary writers to help spark the movement to freedom and democracy, enabling the creation of the very documents our freedom is built upon. The American Revolutionary writer Thomas Paine brought the message of Locke’s natural rights to the colonies through a series of pamphlets that were published and distributed among the people. In Paine’s

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