Answer and Explanation:
1. They were influenced by John Locke who introduced them to the rules of natural rights and natural law. Locke explained to the founding fathers that according to these concepts, all individuals are equal and are born with some inalienable rights, which cannot be removed or modified by anyone, as they are given by God and are important for everyone's survival. The founding fathers found these concepts coherent and adopted these thoughts.
2. In my opinion the Enlightenment was the most important idea, because it generated the necessary framework for the current society that we know and deprived us of many annoying people, but all the ideas mentioned were important in their own ways.