How did the ideas of the enlightemment influrnce colonist in america like benjanmin franklin and thomas jefferson

Thomas Jefferson's ideas on equality and freedom are embodied in the Declaration of Rights and independence. "All people from nature are equally free and independent and have well-known natural rights, which they, entering into any agreement for the formation of society, can in no way deprive their offspring. This is the right to life and freedom to be able to acquire and own property, to seek and to have happiness and security, "reads the first paragraph of the Virginia Declaration.

A vivid embodiment of the reorientation of American thought and the Age of Enlightenment as a whole is the identity of Benjamin Franklin, writer, scholar, philosopher, public and political figure, diplomat. For him, the spiritual problems of his ancestors turned into questions of ethics, the device of his own destiny and service to society. His idea is pushed to the path of self-improvement, and numerous essays provide a systematic program to improve human nature and society, based on the utilitarian principle: "Only a virtuous man can be happy."