Question

Which quote from The Deceleration of Independence shows that the colonists were influenced by John Locke's idea of a social contract.

Answer 1

The quote that most strongly show Locke's influence on those who drafted the Declaration of Independence:

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Locke (along with Hobbes and Rousseau) was a proponent of a social contract, for he believed that we would gain more than what we would sacrifice if we were to enter a social contract and form a society.