The year is 1776. The family of philosopher John Locke has brought a lawsuit against Thomas Jefferson for copying Locke's ideas. Locke's family claim that Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" plagiarizes Locke's ideas from Two Treatises on Government.

You are the judge ruling on the case. You must research how Jefferson's ideas compare to Locke's and determine whether or not Jefferson is guilty of stealing Locke's ideas. Your paragraph opinion (a court document explaining how you arrived at your decision on a case) should contain the following:

explain at least 2 ideas of Jefferson and Locke that are similar
explain at least 1 idea of Jefferson that is different from Locke's
determine whether or not Jefferson is guilty of plagiarism
explain why or why not
~~ You don't have to do the work for me but I really would like some help with this, Thank you ! ( If you would like to do it for me that's great too :)

One of the ideas Jefferson took from Locke's Two Treaties of Government dealt with unalienable rights. Locke wrote about life, liberty, and other rights that citizens were born with and that could not be taken away by any government. Jefferson used a very similar idea when he stated that all men are created equal and born with rights such as "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Difference

One of the biggest differences between the two writings was the target. In this case, Thomas Jefferson was using his writing to justify America's decision to become an independent nation free from British control. This was not Locke's aim, as this book was written decades before a revolution in American was even considered.