Saturday, November 8, 2008

Thomas Jefferson on Inalienable Rights

I hope to bring a daily bite of self-evident truth that carries with it the force to change our way of thinking and in turn change the way we govern ourselves.
clipped from etext.virginia.edu
Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government
1. Inalienable Rights

The government of the United States is the result of a revolution in thought. It was founded on the principle that all persons have equal rights, and that government is responsible to, and derives its powers from, a free people. To Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers, these ideas were not just a passing intellectual fad, but a recognition of something inherent in the nature of man itself. The very foundation of government, therefore, rests on the inalienable rights of the people and of each individual composing their mass. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the fundamental statement of what government is and from what source it derives its powers. It begins with a summary of those inalienable rights that are the self-evident basis for a free society and for all the powers to protect those rights that a just government exercises.
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