USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -One Enlightenment idea was the social contract: citizens give up some freedom they would have in a state of nature (like the freedom to rob and kill people), and in exchange the government protects citizens’ right to life, liberty, and property.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the social contract, individuals agreed to form a political society based on certain conditions, including that the people surrendered many of their rights to a sovereign leader-one with legitimate authority-to protect their lives. The sovereign was given the power to enforce the contract.

Detailed explanation-3: -First, Locke argued that natural rights such as life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up by individuals. These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to surrender).

Detailed explanation-4: -Natural rights, understood as those that are not dependent on the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government, (and therefore, universal and inalienable) were central to the debates during the Enlightenment on the relationship between the individual and the government.