What is the role of a legitimate government? What can it do and what can it NOT do? Be specific. The role of a legitimate government is to ensure that laws and decisions govern with the consent of the governed. Consent is necessary because for any government to exist, individuals must voluntarily give up some of the freedom they would have if they existed in “a state of nature.” Citizens will give up some freedom to create a government that allows them to thrive. Citizens must always agree with government actions, giving them the right to abolish governments that do not benefit them. Locke realized that this is impossible in any large society, so he relied on the idea of ​​a "general will" expressed by the majority. 3. Explain the impact of Locke and Rousseau on Thomas Jefferson. Provide examples from the text. The idea of ​​inalienable rights. This is the idea that there are some absolutely fundamental rights and that no government or political body has the right to alter them. This idea is articulated in one of the most often cited passages of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Freedom and the pursuit of Happiness". This last part quotes Locke almost directly, from a passage in his 1690 publication Two Treatises, in which he defined men's "natural rights" as "the right to life".,