Compare And Contrast John Locke And Jefferson

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John Locke and Thomas Jefferson
Have you ever heard of the Enlightenment era in history? It was a significant period in time where people started to have new ideas in technology, science, politics, and philosophy. The Enlightenment also brought about a lot of memorable thinkers who still continue to influence us today. Among those thinkers included the very wise John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. John Locke was an excellent Enlightenment philosopher who actually influenced Thomas Jefferson’s writings for the Declaration of Independence. Their writings helped to create the unity in America, and justify the break from Great Britain. As a result, together these two famous philosophers helped our country become independent with the Declaration …show more content…

His primary document was “Draft of the Declaration of Independence” which he wrote before he published his Declaration of Independence. In Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence, he starts with a summary statement that when people think change is necessary for society, then they should pursue the change. The purpose of the Declaration was to declare freedom from tyrant King of Britain. “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” That basically means that if the government isn’t serving the people, then they do not agree with it. His document did not really configure a direct democracy. However, it did represent a strong republic, because the colonists just wanted a government that is run by elected officials and laws based on the citizen’s consent. Most of the draft focuses on the King and Thomas Jefferson writes many instances in which the king had violated the rights of American colonists. The delegates didn’t concentrate very much on his opening paragraph, which today is the most important and renowned part of the Declaration of Independence, instead they were more focused on the complaints against King George. Thomas Jefferson wrote a strong draft of the declaration stating the rights of the people of United States, which basically interprets John Locke’s ideas stating that: “We hold truths…that all men are created equal….inherent …show more content…

Thomas Jefferson wrote his Draft of the Declaration and was influenced by many of the ideas and concepts of John Locke. He did modify some of Locke’s ideas but most of them were the product of Locke’s belief in the Law’s of Nature and the fundamental unalienable rights of all human beings. As a result, their writings influence and demonstrate basic rights of people and make up our government. The world in which we live in is a product of the ideals of these men, who lived over 200 years ago; we are a representation of a republic

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