Natural Rights, Social Contract, And Revolution

The Enlightenment, which largely took place in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was an intellectual movement that focused on the development of reason and secularism, rather than spirituality. As a result, it directly influenced political and economic policy, especially within the British colonies. One very well-known philosopher was, John Locke; he argued the ideas of natural rights, social contract, and revolution. At their essence, these three concepts proved to be the philosophical basis for the colonies’ protest movement against imperial British policy.
Natural rights are defined by a specific group of entitlements, such as freedom, privacy, and life, which are granted to every human being despite them not being written in law. The colonists became defiant, mainly because they felt their economic policy was being controlled by the British, who were neglecting multiple natural rights. For
A social contract is a political philosophy which claims that the government and people are bound under a contract. The government is supposed to protect the people's rights and, in return, the people allow the government to rule. The theory had a huge impact on the ideals of the Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. This can be observed in the Declaration of Independence when it is written: “[T]hat to secure these rights, Government are are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent governed...” It is clearly a direct interpretation of Locke’s understanding of the social contract theory. Colonists understood that they already had the power, politically and economically, to become an independent nation and if the British would continue their corruptive ways, then according to the ideals of the Enlightenment it was necessary to