What Enlightenment idea influenced the Declaration of Independence?

• A. The concept of a monarchy
• B. The idea of natural rights and government by consent
• C. The significance of religious freedom
• D. The importance of military might

Answer: (B)

The idea that best fits is natural rights and government by consent. Enlightenment thinkers argued that people have certain inalienable rights and that governments exist to protect those rights only with the people’s consent. The Declaration expresses this directly, declaring that all people are endowed with unalienable rights and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. It also holds that when a government becomes destructive of those ends, the people have the right to alter or abolish it, a clear expression of the social-contract idea. This influence comes from thinkers like John Locke, who shaped the period’s view that legitimate authority rests on consent and the protection of natural rights. The other options don’t capture this core influence: monarchy opposes Enlightenment critiques of absolute rule; religious freedom, while important, isn’t the central force shaping the Declaration; and military might isn’t a philosophical basis for political legitimacy.