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Thomas Hobbes , in his book Leviathan, had claimed that humans at an early time had been oppressed by the chaos of a lawless world :

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.

As a result, said Hobbes, this "primal horde" of humans agreed to vest all rights and authority into the person of the king. All rights then were granted or withheld by the king, and the king's will was law. John Locke , in his Two Treatises of Government, differed with Hobbes. Instead of being oppressed by chaos, Locke's early humans had made orderly agreements as to who would lead them and how, and though the king could make rules, the primal horde had "natural rights" that they had never surrendered. First, everyone had a right to live. Second, , everyone had a right to do what they wanted, as long as it didn't interfere with that first right. Third, everyone had a right to what they owned, through creation, gift or trade - as long as it didn't conflict with the first two rights. Thus, life, liberty and property.

Locke's influence on Jefferson is pretty generally acknowledged.. He would write in the Declaration of Independence that people are endowed with rights to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Some have tried to cast doubt on Jefferson's "pursuit of happiness" being the same as Locke's "property", but here, though you could quibble about whether the "rightful liberty" in this quote is exactly the same as "a right to liberty", they're awfully close. It's apparent that Jefferson is saying that "rightful liberty" is a natural right, distinguishing it (as John Locke did) as different from lawful or legal rights which were subject to the whims of a king, monarch, or tyrant. Hobbes would have said there were only lawful rights, not natural ones.