Question

Whose writing was primary intellectual source for Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence

Answer 1

Thomas Jefferson certainly did not create the Declaration of Independence from scratch. According to him, the onjective was not to create something absolutely new or never said before, but to "place before mankind the common sense of the subject". As it turns out, Jefferson rewrote and slightly aulterated the draft for a Declaration of Rights by George Mason, published in Pennsylvania Gazette in 1776. According to Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence was supposed to be an expression of the American mind, so his version of the Declaration reflected the same ideas, but written in a more sophisticated fashion.

Answer 2

Answer: His main intellectual source was John Locke, a political theorist from England. In fact, his influence on Thomas was so big that he considered Locke as one of "the three greatest men that have ever lived".

We can notice Locke´s influence in the Declaration´s form and phraseology. In fact, he even used phrases that were almost identical to Locke´s, but with a twist because they were totally different when it came to political ideologies.