John Locke was a scholar who expressed that government is morally obligated to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He insisted that when government violates individual rights, people could rebel against it. These views were most fully developed in Locke’s famous Second Treatise Concerning Civil Government, and they were so profound that he never dared sign his name to it. He acknowledged authorship only in his will. Locke's writings inspired the libertarian ideals of the American Revolution which then set an example that inspired people throughout Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Thomas Jefferson ranked Locke as one of the most important thinkers on liberty. Locke helped inspire Thomas Paine’s ideas about revolution. The French philosopher Voltaire called Locke “the man of the greatest wisdom. What he has not seen clearly, I despair of ever seeing.” John Locke influenced individuals throughout the world and did much to inspire the American Revolution.