The Birth of Natural Rights

Here is the central idea, the core statement (which I shall refer to simply as The Statement) of these values, as stated in our Declaration:

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it...

One quick note of, well, grammar. Some historians have noted that there is a period after the word happiness, denoting, in their eyes, the termination of a thought, separating it from the next thought. Or is it really a period? Some have noted that advanced modern document imaging techniques, such as hyperspectral imaging, may throw into doubt whether there actually is a period or a comma after “happiness.” For, they say, if it’s a comma, then the train of thought continues unabated, whereas, if a period, the train stops there.

I’m not sure how much it matters whether it’s a period, a comma, a semicolon or a random drop of ink from Jefferson’s pen. I just don’t see how you can stop the train of thought there, thus my read of that phrase will be as one unifying thought followed by three contingent thoughts.

For purposes of clarity, I will reformat The Statement ever so slightly, toward a more modern format of parlance, this way:

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

- That all persons 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.

- That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

- That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it...

ut naturalism gives no reason, no foundation, for an objective moral truth, because there is no naturalistic point of origin for good—any good—or evil. On naturalism, these ideas or application thereof is a fiction, useful only to an end that cannot itself be judged good or evil. On naturalism, therefore, moral values and duties—good and evil, if one must (though I will deal with this deficient dualistic perspective downstream)—are, at very best, useful fictions, beliefs adopted even if they cannot be known. Social naturalism collapses to utilitarian fiction and ultimately devolves to utilitarian hell.