Final answer:
John Locke was the influential philosopher who emphasized life, liberty, and property. His theories of natural rights and the social contract significantly influenced the American founding fathers in drafting the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Step-by-step explanation:
The influential person in the development of the US constitution who emphasized life, liberty, and property is John Locke. Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher whose ideas about individual rights and the government's role profoundly impacted the American founding fathers. When drafting the Declaration of Independence and later, when creating the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson and others were heavily influenced by Locke's principles of natural rights and the social contract. Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government was particularly influential, advocating for a government that existed only with the consent of the governed to protect people's natural rights to Life, Liberty and Property.
Locke's theory of natural rights influenced many political documents, including the US Declaration of Independence, which rephrased his philosophy to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. His thoughts on the separation of powers and checks and balances in government also became a foundational aspect of the United States Constitution.