Our country is founded on the ideology of human rights given by nature to each and every man. Being just over 200 years of age, America can be and is considered a young country by comparison to many others. The concept of human rights is relatively modern and can also be considered very young in the eyes of time. With the advancement of the human race and increase in communication and awareness, the ideas of equality have spread like wildfire through the past few centuries, but have only began to become a reality.

The ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and jurists recognized and respected the laws of nature, however they failed to make the connection of applying those laws to the rights of man. Natural Laws directly correspond into Natural Rights. In medieval times, lawyers referred to rights and liberties only to the extent of customary privileges that were granted or inherited. It took many years before anyone put the two together, that human rights were not based on stature of heritage, but granted to all by nature.

Prior to the 1600’s, documented human rights were unheard of. The only mention of any kind is the “great charter” labeled the Magna Carter, which was signed into life by King John on June 15th, 1215.[1] This document, we are told, outlines basic thoughts of natural rights which was a strong step forward at the time, but today seems like a sarcastic attempt to sovereign a civil war and having no legal standing what so ever. The document, which has had far too much made of it, did blossom ideals of liberty and freedom in the coming centuries.

England became the birthplace of human rights, as we know them today when parliament issued the Petition of Rights in 1628 and the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679. These formal and legal documents protected individuals against the forced quartering of soldiers, martial law, and mandatory loans to the king, and provided rights to jailed criminals. While it can be assumed that many of these written rights were often neglected and ignored, England was pursuant in her ways and established the Bill of Rights in 1689, which officially rendered England a constitutional monarchy.1

The people of England were receiving more and more paper rights every decade, but still were not seeing them in reality. These rights found their way only to privileged individuals, those who were fortunate enough to be born of the Caucasian race and of the male gender. These rights, unofficially, applied only to citizens who conformed to the countries standards, including lifestyles and religious beliefs. These, among other reasons, helped to spawn new life in America.

Citizens of the newly established America began to see their rights being whisked away as the king forced taxation, legislation, and his military onto them. Millions of eyes were opened in January of 1776 when anonymous copies of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense began to appear on the streets of Philadelphia to the “Long and Violent abuse of power” that they had been suffering under. In his pamphlet, Paine points out how equality cannot be achieved under the rule of a king. “The exalting of one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature.”2

The first official outcry came in June of 1776 when the Virginia Constitutional Convention created the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Later used to create the Declaration of Independence, the introduction stated the existence of natural rights, including the right to “the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”1

The citizens of America rallied behind the Virginia document armed with their newfound awareness and knowledge. In July of 1776 the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, a document that announced the separation of America from England as well as an explanation of the reasoning behind the decision. The committee composed of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston was created to create the document, but the task fell upon the pen of Thomas Jefferson, who explained “I did not consider it as any part of my charge to invent new ideas altogether… It was intended to be an expression of the American mind.”3

The ideas presented in the Declaration, those declared by Jefferson to be “Self-evident” were not at all new. Jefferson drew upon the ideas and writings of Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, and John Locke. His persuasion and accusation was based mostly on the truths presented by basic “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” along with the “Powers of the Earth.”

As stated before, America is a country that was founded upon human rights, and Jefferson made that very clear in the introduction to his creed with perhaps his most famous writing. “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, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”4 While the female portion of society has obviously been omitted from the declared rights, it very clearly includes all men; Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, even Cherokee…

The Declaration of Independence was written from the heart out of needs and dreams. It recognized each individual as an independent and valuable source of power. It told of a new country and a new life-style with words of extreme optimism. Several years after the Declaration, the Constitution of The United States was created and put into effect on March 4, 1789. This new document outlined the function of the new nation and its government in a scientific and logical manner. While it did follow the principles underlying the Declaration in the sense of limiting federal power and guaranteeing freedom of each citizen, the pessimistic tone of the Constitution called for centralization of power.

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