Even though many people credit Thomas Jefferson for the natural rights principles in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson himself pointed out that he didn’t invent those ideas. Instead, he wrote, he had adopted the “harmonizing sentiments of the day,” views which were widely accepted and understood. From 1764 to 1776, Americans produced a rich series of pamphlets, resolutions and speeches which he based those principles on. https://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/12/natural-rights-liberty-doesnt-need-a-government-permission-slip/