Final answer:
John Locke, a 17th-century philosopher, was the key influence on the Founding Fathers in shaping the United States government and Constitution, advocating for the use of reason in governance to protect individual freedoms and prevent tyranny.
Step-by-step explanation:
The college professor that inspired the Founding Fathers of the United States was not one individual contemporaneous academic, but rather a collection of enlightenment thinkers whose works influenced the shaping of American government. Among them, John Locke emerged as the single most important influence. Locke, a 17th-century English philosopher, had a significant impact on the founders, inspiring ideas that were foundational to the creation of the United States Constitution and the new nation's democratic principles. Locke's theories redefined the nature of government, suggesting that humans, while self-interested, were capable of using reason to govern themselves and avoid tyranny. This optimistic view on human nature affected how the Founding Fathers approached the creation of the Constitution, ensuring that the document contained protections against the concentration of power as a safeguard for individual freedoms. The historical contributions of Locke and other enlightenment philosophers to the formation of American constitutional government can therefore be seen as an invaluable legacy passed down to future generations.