Aristotle, Hobbes, and Locke all had their own personal prospects on why the government is formed and it 's purpose for the people. The Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances from the colonies, aimed at the current king of Britain, stating to the world their reasons for separation. This list of grievances is almost a checklist of ways the British king had neglected the main principles of government; no matter who 's philosophical theory you look at; Aristotle, Hobbes, or Locke. In other words, regardless of who Jefferson was mostly influenced by when writing the declaration, it could be proven that the British monarch didn 't follow through on any of the criteria a government is meant to provide. Therefore, the colonies dissolving …show more content…
Jefferson’s language in the Declaration of Independence shows clear influence from Locke and his theory of Life, Liberty, and Property. Locke’s idea of government is one that sets out to protect these rights and once a government becomes more destructive than useful it is the right of the people to dissolve the government and start over from scratch. It can be seen that Jefferson’s view of government, through his criticisms toward the British Parliament, are in direct alignment with Locke’s. Even though Locke was the most influential with his ideas, both Aristotle and Hobbes’ opinions contributed to Jefferson 's ideals in the declaration; and how the British government neglected those ideals. Aristotle believed the state is formed to reach something the individuals cannot reach alone, “all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good” (Aristotle, 7) known as the good …show more content…
Locke believed it was the government 's job to protect property because even though life was free, “enjoyment of it was very uncertain and constantly exposed to the invasion of others.” (Locke 61) There was uncertainty because not everyone wanted to follow the natural laws which made life unsafe and unpredictable. Life, liberties and property were at stake and if moral laws could not be followed a government would be formed to maintain that. “Willing to join in society with others, who are already united, or have a mind to unite, for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties, and estates, which I call by the general name, property.” (Locke, 61) Jefferson shares these same viewpoints and focuses on how the British king is ignoring and falling short of these expectations. Jefferson believed the people had the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and when the government fails to secure these rights he thought it was the people’s rights to abolish the government and create a new one. Not only did Jefferson think it was in the people’s rights rather, “...it is their duty, to throw off such government.” Declaration of Independence, 90). The British government failed to maintain the moral laws Locke thought the government should protect and in turn this was ultimately the reason Jefferson thought it was the people’s duties to separate from Great
The passion for freedom was a unextinguishable flame. The fury fueled by the injustices of Great Britain induced the desire to break away from the mother country and develop a new independent government. This idea started to materialize when Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin wrote and adopted the Declaration of Independence, which stated the colonies' intention to create their own government. Thomas Jefferson and the other authors carefully manipulates their language by using parallelism and diction in order to persuade the reader to fight for personal rights and justice.
In this political philosophy the colonies had originally made a charter with the king who set a custom that he was to provide for the defense of the colonially while each colony maintained the right to legislative self-rule. Jefferson would state, “the addition of new states to the British Empire has produced an addition of new, and sometimes opposite interests. It is now therefore, the great office of his majesty to resume the exercise of his negative power, and to prevent the passage of laws by any one legislature of the empire, which might bear injuriously on the right and interest of another” (A Warning to the King: Thomas Jefferson, “A Summary View of the Rights of British-America”, Green, p. 234). In other words, for Americans to preserve the true ancient British constitution, it was vital to establish that parliament did not have authority over them, because they could never be required to give up actual popular consent or governance in the British Parliament. Thomas Hutchinson stated this idea clear, “The king might retain the executive power and also his share of the legislative without any abridgement of our rights as Englishmen, the Parliament could not retain their legislative power without depriving them of those rights, for after removal they could no longer be represented, and their sovereign, sensible of this charter or commissions made provision in every colon for legislature
Jefferson also combined John Locke’s influence with the Ancient Constitution to the writings of the United States. Jefferson used John Locke’s Second Treatise and writings mostly and the Ancient Constitution during his writings in the American Revolution with the works of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson’s Lockean Liberalism is used in the Declaration of Independence with his implementation of the nature of man, government, and revolution rights. Lockean Liberalism also was used in the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness even though Locke phrases it with the pursuit of property in the Declaration of Independence. Lockean Liberalism also exposed Thomas Jefferson’s pro French ideals during revolutionary times. These pro French ideals and Lock influenced revolutionary documents allowed the United States to combat British parliamentary rulings. Jefferson also used the new Lockean Liberal influences on government to defend the autonomous republic legislatures from British
The purpose of this paper is to give a brief chronological accounting of the writing of the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. A short description of the structure of the Declaration of Independence will be included. The process was relatively fast, from the formation of the committee.
The authors of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the United States Constitution pulled from many different sources during the infancy of these invaluable documents. They used pieces such as Hobbes’ Leviathan, Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, Rousseau’s Of The Social Contract, and Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws as inspiration for America’s fundamental government. Each of these influential political philosophers were instrumental in making our government what it is today. Hobbes brought the ideas of natural equality, a strong, powerful government, and the principle that governments must be able to protect the people to American political philosophy. Locke added that
Specifically, the idea that man is endowed with certain liberties that were granted by God and/or nature was advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers. Many people took aim at arbitrary governments and the “divine right of kings.” John Locke in return offered principles of constructing a constitutional government, a contract between rulers and the ruled. In Document 7, John Locke in The Two Treatises of Government stated that men consent to enter society in order to preserve their natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. The government should protect people's natural rights and if not, then the people can remove their consent because the government derives its power from the consent of the people. John Locke wrote during the time period of the Enlightenment; therefore, his thoughts were based on the emerging idea of individualism furthermore man's inherent rights and powers. Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence (Document 9) that are all men are created equal and that they are endowed with certain natural rights. The Declaration of Independence was written because of England's tyrannical rule over the American colonies thus, the citizens felt that their natural rights were being abused by the English government. Individualism was indeed formed in response to the skepticism of the Church as
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson appeals to patriotism. Jefferson ensures this by persuading the colonists to become self-governing. He tries to let all of the people of the New World understand that they have protested and defended themselves against the British for all of the corrupt acts the British have committed upon the colonists. Jefferson’s tone in the Declaration of Independence portrays how tiresome he has grown of the British rule after all of the deception towards Americans. Included within the idea of patriotism, is the idea of loyalty to the fundamental values and principles underlying American democracy. Thomas Paine also provides patriotism to get advocates for the movement to separate from the British forces. Correspondingly, Paine persuades Americans that they will prosper in numerous areas without the control of the British saying, “Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws…” (Paine). Paine uses a demanding tone to convince Americans that if they should accept the ties with Britain, it will bring ruin and distress to the
Thomas Jefferson had a different view on how the government should run over what Thomas Paine felt. I really like how Thomas Paine worded it the best by stating “In order for the colonist to prosper in the long term, the colonies need to be independent.” Paine all so states “by declaring independence, America will be able to ask for help from other countries in its struggle for freedom.” The colonist just needed to break away so they could grow on their own. By the colonists breaking away is how the United States of America was formed.
The way that Jefferson structured The Declaration of Independence made the article extremely influential. Jefferson first starts by sharing his belief that governments and monarchies that do not represent the people. He then goes on to tell the rights that he believes all people should have all over the world. The rights he describes are simple and reasonable. From there his last line of that paragraph is “to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid World.” Then he starts to describe the injustices done to the colonies by the English crown. His structure works well to persuade people because he does not start immediately accusing the king of all these injustices or with strong languages. Like all good speakers and authors, Jefferson starts off with a lightly worded statement about when a group of people should start a new government. He then transitions to a slightly stronger statement about human rights, and then he goes into his compelling injustices of the king. The injustices that he describes include “He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People. The Declaration of Independence is...
There are many different ways in which the Enlightenment affected the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. One way was the by the idea of a Social Contract; an agreement by which human beings are said to have abandoned the "state of nature" in order to form the society in which they now live. HOBBES, LOCKE, and J.J. ROUSSEAU each developed differing versions of the social contract, but all agreed that certain freedoms had been surrendered for society's protection and that the government has definite responsibilities to its citizens. Locke believed that governments were formed to protect the natural rights of men, and that overthrowing a government that did not protect these rights was not only a right, but also an obligation. His thoughts influenced many revolutionary pamphlets and documents, including the Virginia Constitution of 1776, and the Declaration of Independence.
The foundation of America is based on the people, a democracy. Jefferson contributed to the "beliefs and the values of the American system and government"(Para.4) all of which are still practiced. In 1776(table) The Declaration of Independance was written and was greatly influenced by Jefferson, he "can be seen as a true miniser and prophet of those ideals"(Para.4). He knew that the people had to be taken into account and that made him strong. Jefferson once said "When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty."
It was the 4th of July in 1776 when delegates from all thirteen colonies assembled at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not knowing the full significance of what was about to take place that day,the delegates would do something that would forever change the course of the American people.
The Declaration of Independence is focused for the most part toward King George III and the British Parliament. Jefferson wanted them to understand the reasoning behind the American's decision of independence. From paragraphs 6-32 he lists all the acts of tyranny that King George III forced upon the Americans. The list is longer than all the other parts of the document put together. It demonstrates how much emphasis Jefferson placed on providing reasons. But, this list is not only directed at Jefferson, it is a reminder to all Americans and the whole world of what disturbing times have been overcome in the past.
There are many important factors in the Declaration of Independence, which enable the foundation of a new government. These range from describing grievances with England, to how government should be run differently, to the first statement of separation. The first step to the foundation of a new government is the uniting of a people in a common goal. Since all people were feeling violated by English soldiers, it was necessary to state these grievances in order to make people aware that they are not alone. When people learned that others felt the same as them emotion was stirred. The Declaration of Independence listed the grievances such as, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” The next important step to the foundation of a new government was to gain peoples ambition by showing how the government would be run if a new party took over. This goal was achieved by stating the rights of man. “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.” This statement made people hopeful and feel kindly toward this new government. The final step in the preparation for a new government was separation from the old government. This was declared twice in the Declaration of Independence. In the beginning, “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, driving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and in the end, “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. In conclusion, the Declaration of Independence was able to motivate people, give them ambition, and made it simple for Americans to take action.
On July 4th, 1776, America 's most important document in history was announced, "Declaration of Independence". The Declaration of Independence defined America 's prestige, value, and its freedom. It was the document which stated American colonies now did not want to be the part of British property. It is one of the most important days because for the first time in the history of America; it was on its own and stood as a single country. The majority of the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson which was debated by Congress and made many changes in the original document. One of the major changes made by Congress was removing an attack on the institution of slavery.