[nicollo]

I can see the point philosophically, but I find it difficult to believe that the people of that time period would have embraced it.

Let's just say that Jefferson wasn't dumb. He deliberately built the logic. He knew Milton, Hobbes, Locke, and Hume (and the rest of the canon, especially Machiavelli and Montesquieu), and he knew that the logic of independence required denial of divine rule.

George Washington, btw, understood that the people didn't understand that, which is why he went out of his way to act like a king, all the while reenacting Cincinnatus and not Caesar.

[DiogenesLamp]

Let's just say that Jefferson wasn't dumb. He deliberately built the logic. He knew Milton, Hobbes, Locke, and Hume (and the rest of the canon, especially Machiavelli and Montesquieu), and he knew that the logic of independence required denial of divine rule.

Jefferson was a brilliant and well read man, and he may have very well seen that idea.

George Washington, btw, understood that the people didn't understand that, which is why he went out of his way to act like a king, all the while reenacting Cincinnatus and not Caesar.

Even George III expressed admiration.

“If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”