GED Social Studies TestCivics and GovernmentMedium
A historian is lecturing on the philosophical underpinnings of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. They emphasize that the document asserts that all individuals are born with certain inherent rights that governments cannot legitimately take away. This idea is most directly derived from which Enlightenment philosophy?
- ABaron de Montesquieu's Separation of Powers
- BJean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract
- CVoltaire's Freedom of Speech
- DJohn Locke's Natural Rights
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. John Locke's Natural Rights
John Locke's philosophy of natural rights, which includes the rights to life, liberty, and property, profoundly influenced Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence's assertion of unalienable rights.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Montesquieu's ideas primarily influenced the structure of government through the separation of powers, not the concept of inherent individual rights.
- B. Rousseau's social contract theory focused on the general will and popular sovereignty, which is related but not the direct source of inherent individual rights in the Declaration.
- C. Voltaire was a strong advocate for freedom of speech and religion, but Locke's work is the more direct source for the broader concept of inherent natural rights in the Declaration.
John Locke's Natural Rights
A foundational concept stating that individuals possess inherent rights to life, liberty, and property that no government can legitimately infringe upon.
- Influenced the American Declaration of Independence
- Part of his theory on the social contract
- Governments are formed to protect these rights
Memory trick: Locke's rights were the 'key' to the Declaration.