The Energy Cooperative

Natural Rights (Locke) appear in the declaration of Independence as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Jean Rousseau developed the idea of the social contract and the notion of replacing a government that fails to maintain consent is cited as justification for the American Revolution against the English.

While our country was fighting for its independence at an early age there was one man who had the most powerful influence from the tip of his pen and this man was John Locke. John Locke had an incredible amount of influence on the declaration of independence and this came from the fact that he expressed the radical view that “government is morally obliged to serve the people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property.” John Locke was a big part of helping influence what this country has come to be today and he often goes unrecognized when labeling big contributors to the declaration of independence.

The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson. The purpose of the document was to explain to other countries why the colonies were choosing to break away from Great Britain. Several different statements contained in the Declaration of Independence took inspiration from the Enlightenment, and John Locke. John Locke was an influential Enlightenment thinker. One case in point is how the document states about the consent of the government. This idea is from the Enlightenment, which supported people making their own decisions. An additional example is the concept that if the government does not protect the people, it would be necessary for the people to revolt. This comes from the Enlightenment, because the Enlightenment encouraged the people to question the government when things were wrong with

The Declaration of Independence and John Locke’s philosophy of natural law have many ideas and theories in common that are both based on their concepts of freedom and independence. Their similar common grounds not only had a very influential impact on the most important document of all America’s history, but also established how our government operates in current time. The Declaration of Independence came to life on July 4th, 1776. The thirteen colonies in America had been at war with Great Britain when they finally decided to break off from Britain’s harsh government and establish their own country. The people believed that it was necessary to cut all political ties with Britain and further connect themselves to the powers of the earth to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them. Ultimately, they wanted to gain their

For example, the document states that a government should be by and for the people and if this is not so, the people have a right to change or overthrow the government (Jefferson). The Declaration of Independence also holds one of the most well-known sentences in the English language, a revolutionary idea that all men are created equal. The original quote reads, “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, and among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Part of the quote is borrowed from John Locke, another revolutionary thinker in the colonies. He proposed the phrase as “life, liberty and the pursuit of property” in one of his informational books about various topics affecting humanity. However, a topic that was mostly kept out was slavery. While the Declaration mentioned that all men are created equal, the authors of the document, especially the author Thomas Jefferson with his massive house and farm, owned slaves and did not want to be hypocritical in any

Enlightenment thinkers, also known as philosophers had a major impact on the American and French Revolution. Philosophers from the 1700s influenced the making of two documents known as United States’ Declaration of Independence and France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens. The Declaration of Independence is a document that was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson. It reflects the beliefs of enlightenment philosopher, John Locke. Written in 1793 by Marquis de Lafayette, the Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen was influenced by the beliefs of Voltaire, another Enlightenment thinker. John Locke didn’t like the idea of absolute monarchy. He favored the idea of self- government and equal rights. Locke believed that the

On June of 1776, the Declaration of Independence was born. Drawn up by Thomas Jefferson and based on the works of John Locke, the general purpose of the document was to clarify that governments have conditional, not absolute authority over the people; that human beings possess natural rights that can’t be taken from them and government is created to protect those rights. The phrases “unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and “all men are created equal” were the main theme of the social contract written for the small colonies of what would be the basis of the United States of America to declare independence from Great Britain and its tyrannical king. However, “unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and “all men are created equal” did not apply to African Americans, enslaved or free for the coming years.

These rights included life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He also believed in having a limited government. His ideas had a great impact on the U.S. government and the Declaration of Independence. John Locke’s influence was evident in the Declaration of Independence when it said, “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The colonists believed they had these unalienable rights, therefore the Americans established a government where people would be guaranteed these rights. The Americans believed that Britain was “deaf to the voice of justice.” Britain refused to respond to the outcries of the colonists. John Locke believed selfishness would always get in the way of acting morally, and Britain’s selfishness was blinding them from the suffering the colonists faced. The Americans developed a government that would listen to the people and let them have a

The Declaration of Independence was written on July 4, 1776 by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson. The main ideas of this document are that “all men are created equal” and each person has the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Both documents, “The Declaration of Independence” and Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” are aimed at convincing the colonists to understand the basic ideas that all people are created equal and have the same rights given to them from God, and that they have the right to pursue these rights. The philosopher John Locke wrote of these things still earlier in 1689 in his document “The Second Treatise of Civil Government.” This document talks about life and liberty and the right to pursue them on an equal plane of existence. Locke felt it necessary

John Locke believed that everyone had a series of God-given rights—a natural moral law, and people gave rights to the government when it came to how they should be ruled. Locke is responsible for some of the most influential writings on liberty. His writings helped influence Thomas Paine’s ideas about revolution. James Madison, one of the writers of the bill of rights, was influenced greatly by Locke, and the French philosopher Voltaire called him “the man of great wisdom.”

Corporations can be large or small but they all have some sort of ethical impact on their employees, shareholders, customers, community, and surrounding environments. Richard DeGeorge writes, “We can speak of corporations having moral responsibilities to act in certain ways, and they are morally responsible for the consequences of their actions on people.” (p. 200). Large corporations are comprised of the board of directors, management, and their workers. They also deal with suppliers, customers, and have competitors. This essay will examine the moral responsibilities within a corporation.

One of the most famous quote people remember from the Declaration of Independence was, “ We hold these truths to be self- evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress then would edit to create the final version. The Declaration was an explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare

Many of John Locke’s ideas were input into the Declaration of Independence, as his primary words “life, liberty” and instead of property, the pursuit of happiness, are the basis of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Locke’s arguments concerning liberty influenced the works of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, as his Second Treatise is imitated in the Declaration of Independence. When the founding fathers adopted the resolution for the nation’s

The Declaration of Independence uses many of the beliefs that are central to Locke’s Two Treaties of Government, which are all still very important to us today. Beliefs such as all people are equal, their natural rights, and the government’s role in its citizens lives was the foundation to building the United States the world knows today. The focal points in their two documents are almost exactly the same; Locke emphasizes people’s natural rights in the statement “that being all equal and independent, no one ought to hurt ones life, liberty, or property", while Jefferson highlights them by saying “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." It is commonly speculated that Jefferson’s first draft of Declaration of Independence actually copied Locke verbatim by saying “life, liberty, and property”, rather than “pursuit of happiness”. While this has never been proven, it shows how Jefferson utilized Locke’s ideas.