If government breaks the social contract by invading natural rights, Locke argued, then the governed have a right, as a last resort, to overthrow it. The founding fathers of the United States were very familiar not only with this revolutionary idea, but more generally with the writings of Locke and his followers. The influence of Locke and other European liberals is evident in the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson. The famous paragraph cited below, for instance, should be interpreted in the context of this line of thought. Locke's doctrine of natural rights to "life, liberty, and property" is clearly echoed in Jefferson's words, proclaiming the rights to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (). Jefferson refers not to a right to happiness per se; that is, governments are not instituted to provide specific material goods and services or to ensure that all are "free from want." Rather, individuals have the right to pursue happiness, that is, they deserve the unimpeded freedom to produce and consume the values they regard as necessary to their life and well-being.     

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

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