Big Question:

1. Big Question: • Who influenced Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the founding fathers to get independence from Great Britain? • Thomas Paine and John Locke

2. No, not that John Locke!

3. The Ideas of John Locke • John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher whose ideas influenced the American belief in self-government.

4. The Ideas of John Locke • Locke wrote that: • All people are free, equal, and have “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property that rulers cannot take away. • Government and people in a contract: • People agree to respect the laws • Government agrees to respect people’s rights

5. Locke’s Social Contract

6. The Ideas of John Locke • Government and people are in a contract • People respect/follow laws • Government respects peoples’ rights • If the government violates people’s rights, that government has lost its right to govern the people • Therefore, people have nnn the right to overthrow their government

7. Thomas Paine andCommon Sense • Thomas Paine was an English immigrant to America who produced a pamphlet known as Common Sense that challenged the rule of the American colonies by the King of England • Common Sense was read and acclaimed by many American colonists during the mid-1700s and contributed to independence from Britain

8. Common Sense (Jan. 1776)

9. So what did Common Sense say? • All men are created equal; therefore, kings and queens should not be in power • American colonies should have an American Constitution; British laws only benefit Britain • America is not just a British nation; it’s a nation of other immigrants and nations in power (Netherlands, France, Germany, etc.) • If England goes to war, the colonies suffer. Why?

10. Paine’s best argument? • Even if Britain were the "mother country" of America, that made her actions all the more horrendous. • In other words, what mother would treat her children so badly?