The statement that correctly analyzes how Enlightenment thinker Thomas Hobbes’s ideas impacted the American Revolution is:
"Colonists felt that their agreement with the king had been broken when he violated their rights."
Thomas Hobbes is known for his social contract theory, which posits that individuals consent to surrender some of their freedoms to an authority (the sovereign) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. If the sovereign fails to uphold their end of the contract (e.g., by violating the rights of the people), the people have the right to challenge that authority. This idea of a social contract influenced colonists' views on their relationship with the British crown during the American Revolution.
The other statements do not accurately reflect Hobbes’s influence or the context of the American Revolution:
- Hobbes did not advocate for liberty, equality, and fraternity in the way that later Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau or the French Revolution did.
- The concept of "rights to life, liberty, and property" is more closely associated with John Locke, another Enlightenment thinker, rather than Hobbes.
- Hobbes did not rewrite any founding documents or specifically address issues of gender equality in his works.