America’s Declaration of Natural Rights: An Examination of the Declaration of Independence

1. America’s Declaration of Natural Rights:An Examination of the Declaration of Independence • Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources • Loyola University Chicago • Dan Wilk

2. What does liberty mean to you?

3. Thomas Hobbes’s book Leviathan (1651) is considered one of the first works on natural rights. A Look at natural rights over time Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1981/1651. 189. Print. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/images/s37.jpg

4. A Look at natural rights over time Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1981/1651. 189. Print. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/images/s37.jpg

5. What words stand out to you? What is Hobbes saying? A Look at natural rights over time Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1981/1651. 189. Print. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/images/s37.jpg

6. “The laws shall be merely declaratory of natural rights and natural wrongs, and ... whatever is indifferent to the laws of nature shall be left unnoticed by human legislation . . . and legal tyranny arises whenever there is a departure from this simple principle.” Elisha P. Hurlbut (1845) “The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. . . . Every man has a right to his own body—to the products of his own labor—to the pro­tection of law. . . . That all these laws which are now in force, ad­mitting the right of slavery, are, therefore, before God, utterly mill and void . . . and therefore they ought instantly to be abrogated.” William Lloyd Garrison (1833) A Look at natural rights over time Elisha P. Hurlbut, Essays on Human Rights and Their Political Guarantees (1845), cited in Wright, American Interpretations, pp. 257ff. William Lloyd Garrison, “Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Convention” (December 1833)

7. Murray Rothbard describes natural rights as the right to private property. A Look at natural rights over time

8. “Liberals generally wish to preserve the concept of “rights” for such “human” rights as freedom of speech, while denying the concept to private property. And yet, on the contrary the concept of “rights” only makes sense as property rights. For not only are there no human rights which are not also property rights, but the former rights lose their absoluteness and clarity and become fuzzy and vulnerable when property rights are not used as the standard. In the first place, there are two senses in which property rights are identical with human rights: one, that property can only accrue to humans, so that their rights to property are rights that belong to human beings; and two, that the person’s right to his own body, his personal liberty, is a property right in his own person as well as a “human right.” But more importantly for our discussion, human rights, when not put in terms of property rights, turn out to be vague and contradictory.” Rothbard (1982) A Look at natural rights over time Rothbard, Murray. The Ethics of Liberty. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press Inc., 1982. 113. Print.

9. A Look at natural rights over time http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt013.html

10. A Look at natural rights over time http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt013.html

11. Jefferson and Locke http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/CreatingtheUS/interactives/declaration/HTML/primary/enlarge1.html http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/vc006482.jpg

12. “Bacon, Locke, Newton…I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences“ Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price Paris, January 8, 1789 Jefferson and Locke http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm033.html

13. All men are Created equal

14. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL A state also of equality, where all the Power and Justification is reciprocal no one having more then another, there being nothing more evident. This equality of Men by Nature. Judicious Hooker Looks upon as so evident in it self, and beyond all question. http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/interactives/declaration/HTML/index.html

15. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004215.jpg

16. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL

17. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL Common Ideas We hold these truths to be self-evident so evident in it self, and beyond all question. All men are created equal A state also of equality, where all the Power and Justification is reciprocal no one having more then another

18. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL What does this mean? divine rights of kings

19. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL He [George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most scared rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur a miserable death in their transportation thither. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.

20. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL Ellen Randolph Coolidge to Thomas Jefferson August 1, 1825 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffleg.html

21. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL (Discussing her trip to New England)... “It has given me an idea of prosperity and improvement, such as I fear our Southern State cannot hope for, whilst the canker of slavery eats into our hearts, and diseases the whole body by this ulcer at the core." http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffleg.html

22. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL “I have no doubt you will find also the state of society there more congenial with your mind, than the rustic scenes you have left: altho these do not want their points of endearment. nay, one single circumstance changed, and their scale would hardly be the lightest. one fatal stain deforms what nature had bestowed on us of her fairest gifts.” Daguerreotype, ca. 1840, University of Virginia Library. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffleg.html

23. Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, April 22, 1820 All men are Created equal http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page051.db&recNum=1237

24. All men are Created equal http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page051.db&recNum=1237

25. In 1791, patrick henry writes in his book the “rights of man”, "I begin with charters and corporations. it is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights. it operates by a contrary effect, that of taking rights away. rights are inherently in all the inhabitants; but charters, by annulling those right in the majority, leave the right by exclusion in the hands of a few.  if charters were constructed so as to express in direct terms 'that every inhabitant, who is not a member of a corporation, shall not exercise the right of voting,' such charters would, in the face, be charter, not of the rights, but of exclusion."  With the declaration of independence stating that rights are inherent and inalienable deriving from God, do you feel that convicted felons deserve the same rights as his fellow man? All men are Created equal

26. In 1791, Patrick Henry writes in his book the “Rights of Man”, "I begin with charters and corporations. it is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights. it operates by a contrary effect, that of taking rights away. rights are inherently in all the inhabitants; but charters, by annulling those right in the majority, leave the right by exclusion in the hands of a few.  if charters were constructed so as to express in direct terms 'that every inhabitant, who is not a member of a corporation, shall not exercise the right of voting,' such charters would, in the face, be charter, not of the rights, but of exclusion."  With the Declaration of Independence stating that rights are inherent and inalienable deriving from God, do you feel that convicted felons deserve the same rights as his fellow man? All men are Created equal

27. Consent of the Governed

28. CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED And thus much may suffice to shew, that as far as we have any light from History, we have reason to conclude, that all peaceful beginnings of Government have been laid in the Consent of the People. http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/interactives/declaration/HTML/index.html

29. CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED

30. CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED Yet the legislative being only a fiduciary power to act for certain ends, there remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them; for all power given with trust for the attaining an end being limited by that end, whenever that end is manifestly neglected or opposed, the trust must necessarily be forfeited, and the power devolve into the hands of those that gave it, who may place it anew where they shall think best for their safety and security.

31. CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004215.jpg

32. CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED

33. Common Ideas “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” “we have reason to conclude, that all peaceful beginnings of Government have been laid in the Consent of the People.” Consent of the Governed

34. Common Ideas “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, & institute a new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles, & organizing it’s power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness” “remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative act.... and the power devolve into the hands of those that gave it, who may place it anew where they shall think best for their safety and security.” Consent of the Governed

35. The Declaration of Independence support the secession of the Confederate States of America. Do you feel the Confederate States of America were exercising natural rights or natural wrongs? Support your answer. Do you feeling voting in the United States appoints the government power through the consent of the governed? Why or Why not? Consent of the Governed

36. TRAIN OF ABUSES

37. TRAIN OF ABUSES But if a long train of Abuses, Prevarications and Artifices, all tending the same way, making design visible to the People, and they cannot but feel what they lye under, and see whither they are going; ‘tis not to be wonder’d that they should then rouze themselves, and endeavor to put the rule into such hands, which may secure to them the ends for which Government was at first erected. http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/interactives/declaration/HTML/index.html

38. TRAIN OF ABUSES

39. TRAIN OF ABUSES It may be demanded here. What if the executive power, being possessed of the force of the commonwealth, shall make use of that force to hinder the meeting and acting of the legislative, when the original constitution or public exigencies require it? I say using force upon the people without authority, and contrary to the trust put in him that does so, is a state of war with the people, who have a right to reinstate their legislative in the exercise of their power. For having erected a legislative, with an intent they should exercise the power of making laws, either at certain set times, or when there is need of it. When they are hindered by any force from what is so necessary to the society, and wherein the safety and preservation of the people consists, the people have the right to remove it by force.

40. TRAIN OF ABUSES http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004215.jpg

41. TRAIN OF ABUSES

42. TRAIN OF ABUSES Common Ideas But if a long train of Abuses, Prevarications and Artifices, all tending the same way, making design visible to the People, and they cannot but feel what they lye under, When a long train of abuses & usurpations begun at a distinguished period, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism...

43. TRAIN OF ABUSES Common Ideas I say using force upon the people without authority, and contrary to the trust put in him that does so, is a state of war with the people, who have a right to reinstate their legislative in the exercise of their power.... When they are hindered by any force from what is so necessary to the society, and wherein the safety and preservation of the people consists, the people have the right to remove it by force. it is their duty, to throw off such government & provide new guards for their future security such has been patient sufferance of these colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government

44. TRAIN OF ABUSES Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith, November 13, 1787

45. TRAIN OF ABUSES Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith, November 13, 1787

46. TRAIN OF ABUSES

47. TRAIN OF ABUSES

48. LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

49. LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS ...what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health limb or goods of another http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/interactives/declaration/HTML/index.html

50. LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004215.jpg