A question about The Declaration of Independence, please help.

Question

Was The Declaration of Independence made up of original ideas from the head of Thomas Jefferson, or proclaimed exactly the same inalienable rights as John Locke had?

Answer 1

The Declaration was written by Jefferson, but he conferred extensively with others, especially John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. They had all read Locke and most of the other Enlightenment philosophers, including Hobbes, Montaigne, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire, and others, as well as all the important Greek and Roman classics.

So Locke was influential in the writing, but so were others. Note, also, that the Declaration contains a long list of specific grievances against the King of England that earlier authors could not have anticipated.

Answer 2

They were not exact copies of John Locke's inalienable rights but they inspired and were adapted by Thomas Jefferson when writing the Declaration of Independence.