The Declaration of Independence

Though the document sets up no laws or governmental structure beyond merely stating the existence of a new country, the Declaration of Independence is predicated on the social contract theory, a philosophical idea dating back to Socrates but redefined throughout the Enlightenment. Jefferson was particularly interested in the theories of Locke, who believed that political society is a voluntary association that people join for mutual benefit. On this model, people give up certain rights to join a political society, but governments have an obligation to protect an individual’s rights to life, liberty, and property (phrasing very similar to the Declaration of Independence’s “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”). If a government fails to protect these, the people may form a better one.

The Declaration states that “governments are instituted among men” and derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Then, it states that any government that is “destructive of these ends” may be abolished and replaced with a “new government.” All of this is justified by the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” as a government that fails to protect the natural rights of its citizens is illegitimate.

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