Many of the most highly regarded documents in history have major similarity and the documents of our predecessors often influences the generations after them. Documents like the the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut which influence our Constitution or the English Bill of Rights which influences our Bill of Rights are good examples of this practices. But perhaps one of the the most famous United State use of this is the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence has many similar ideas on the government and its relations with it citizens from John Locke’s Social Contract.

One similarity both documents share is the mention of unalienable rights, god given rights that cannot be taken away. The Social Contract states “we retain the right to life and liberty, and gain the right to just, impartial protection of property.” and while the Declaration of Independence is very similar with it inalienable rights, the exact quote is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”. The difference within these sets of our inalienable rights is most likely due to the time period in which each document was created. John Locke wrote the Social …show more content…
And though a majority of these ideas came from the Social Contract, the Declaration of Independence was still a struggle to write, shown in document 3, because they were forming older views to fit a new generation. In summary, the documents, Locke's Social Contract and the Declaration of Independence, are very similar in their views on the relationship of the government and the governed, showing an obvious influence from the Social Contract on to the Declaration of