[JMJ333]

I could trace it back farther to the 1500s, but liberalism wasn't fully developed nor widely accepted until the 18th century.

I didn't say that the founders based the constitution on the french revolution..but were familiar with French political philosophy and incorporated much of it into the american political system. You can sit their pontificating in your all-knowingness, but the facts will remain the same.

Up until the French revolution, God was the sovereign judge of religious truth and individual conscience. When the french intellectuals revolted they emphasized that political authority came from the people themselves--alone--as interpreted by the will of the majority. Sounds familiar.

The logical extreme was then carried out in the FR with mob rule, followed by a dictatorship of terror, all in the name of "the will of the people" and in opposition to God and of course the monarchy.

[dheretic]

I didn't say that the founders based the constitution on the french revolution..but were familiar with French political philosophy and incorporated much of it into the american political system.

Which French philsophers that pre-dated Locke besides Descartes influenced the founders more than English Liberals like Locke?