Unalienable rights listed in the declaration of independence

The First Principle of unalienable rights recognizes that everyone is naturally endowed by their Creator with certain rights that cannot be infringed or given away

The Declaration of Independence proclaims as a self-evident truth the First Principle that “all men are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson explained the essence of the Founding Fathers understanding regarding the First Principle of unalienable rights when he wrote that“afree people claims their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as a gift from their chief magistrate.”  A basic maxim of American government is the recognition that some rights derived from Nature may not be taken or violated by the government.

This First Principle turned topsy-turvy the prior understanding of authority and rights. Putting aside a few ancient democracies and republics, Kings and nobility historically were the origin of authority, and they granted rights and privileges to their subjects. The people held their liberties were dependent upon the pleasure of the rulers.

Nevertheless, America boldly proclaimed at its birth that some rights were endowed by man’s very nature – and that individuals are incapable of relinquishing them. Because these rights are endowed in people from Nature’s God, they are inherent in each individual and cannot be abandoned – in other words, such rights are unalienable.

In other words, “the sacred rights of mankind,” Alexander Hamilton observed, “are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”

The recognition and protection of unalienable rights is a centerpiece of America’s First Principles.

For more about unalienable rights and the other First Principles, buy a copy of America’s Survival Guide..

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In the seventeenth century, philosopher John Locke wrote about natural law, which gives individuals rights that are part of the natural order of life rather than assigned by a ruler. Thomas Jefferson incorporated this concept into the Declaration of Independence in an attempt to point out the abuses made by the British government and prevent similar offenses from occurring in an independent America. Jefferson wrote that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were among the unalienable rights granted to all humans. The Constitution would go further to define and provide protection for these unalienable rights.

In Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, several important unalienable rights are spelled out. The writ of habeas corpus prevents people from being held in custody without being charged with a crime. Ex post facto laws ensure that a person cannot be convicted of a crime if the action was performed before the action became illegal. Bill of attainder laws ensure that each citizen receives due process in the legal system and prevent Congress from passing laws that find someone guilty of a crime without a trial.

Article III, Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution describe other unalienable rights. These sections state that the trials of crimes shall be by jury and the venue of trials shall be in the state where said crimes are to have been committed. They also address punishment for treason, stating that a person found guilty of treason can only be assigned punishment for the guilty person's lifetime, and that his or her punishment must not extend to his or her family. It also requires that two eyewitnesses prove the act of treason, an obligation that limits the number of treason trials.

Article IV, Section 2 contains the privileges and immunities clause, which states that "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States." Under this clause, states may draw "reasonable" distinctions between residents and non-residents. Actions that have been deemed reasonable include allowing separate in-state and out-of-state tuition levels for college and university students, setting minimum residency requirements for politicians running for office in a particular state, and taxing businesses owned by non-residents at a higher rate.

Conversely, some actions have been deemed as unreasonable distinctions under the privileges and immunities clause. For example, states cannot provide higher welfare benefits to long-term state residents than they provide to short-term residents, and they cannot encourage employers to give preference to in-state job candidates.

There have been some notable historic controversies over the interpretation of the privileges and immunities clause, and there continues to be confusion about it today. The Dred Scott Supreme Court decision seemed to contradict the clause because it determined that blacks were not entitled to the privileges and immunities of white citizens.

The Constitution, while a powerful and flexible document, must be periodically reviewed and amended to address issues that that did not exist, were not significant, or were not considered when Constitution was drafted. In fact, the Constitution was amended even before it was ratified by the states, when the Bill of Rights was added. Many states had adopted their own Bills of Rights, and before they were willing to ratify the Constitution, they required the inclusion of a federal Bill of Rights to outline specific limitations on the federal government.

The Federalists and Anti-Federalists disagreed over the inclusion of the Bill of Rights. Representing the Federalists, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote "The Federalist Papers," which opposed the inclusion of a Bill of Rights. They did not disapprove of the rights that would be protected under a federal Bill of Rights, but rather they felt the Constitution adequately limited governmental power and therefore the Bill of Rights was unnecessary. They also feared that any explicit list of rights would actually limit rights because it would appear that citizens had only those rights and no others.

However, Benjamin Franklin began exchanging a series of letters with Madison and eventually shifted Madison’s thinking. Also contributing to Madison’s change of heart was the realization that the Anti-Federalists would block the ratification of the Constitution without a federal Bill of Rights. With Franklin’s input, Madison began to favor not only a federal Bill of Rights, but also one with language even more specific than most of the states’ Bills of Rights. With Madison’s support, ten amended statements comprising the Bill of Rights were added to the Constitution, approved by Congress in 1789, and ratified by the states in 1791.

Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education