Then compare your answers with those of John Locke and explain why you agree or disagree with Locke. Locke and other natural rights philosophers said that the purpose of government is to protect natural rights. Thomas Jefferson agreed and in the Declaration of Independence argued that the protection of rights is the main purpose of government. Another of Locke's ideas that Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence is that government gets its right to govern from the consent of the people. Its powers are delegated to it by the governed.
People give their consent in several ways.
People can give explicit consent by agreeing to the contract that establishes the society whose members then establish the government and choose its officers joining a society that already is established People give implicit consent, also called tacit consent, by accepting the laws and services of the government and nation of their birth. Locke believed that since the people give the power to the government, they have the right to take it away if the government is not serving the purposes for which it was established. They can then create a new government. Locke argued and the Founders agreed that if a government fails to protect the people's rights, the people have a right of revolution . Locke and the Founders said that the people have the right to make that decision.