Unalienable Rights
Our Founders believed our basic rights came from God, not from any social compact, king, emperor, or governmental authority. William Blackstone wrote, “Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, are therefore called natural rights, such as life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are.” Our Founders called these rights Unalienable. This is our tenth in a series of articles describing the Founders’ Philosophy based on W. Cleon Skousen’s book The Five Thousand Year Leap.
Professor Skousen continues with Blackstone’s quote, “No human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner shall himself commit some act of forfeiture.” This is critical. The government cannot take away one’s unalienable rights unless that person commits an act of forfeiture, or in other words, commits a crime himself. Our Founders believed strongly that laws should only be legislated to limit the law breakers, not the law abiding citizens. They believed strongly in Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1: 9 – 10, quoted here in the popular New International Version (NIV) translation, “We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.”
Our Founders also believed in rights granted by the government and they called these rights “vested” rights. An example of vested rights would be the right to travel on a public highway. These vested rights may be changed any time lawmakers feel like changing it. This fundamental philosophical belief of our Founders is critical and bears repeating. The government grants “vested” rights which can be legislatively changed, however the government cannot deprive a citizen of rights it does not grant. Since God grants natural rights, they are truly unalienable and cannot be abridged legislatively or through force!
The following are examples of Unalienable Rights our Founders did not enumerate. Citizens have the right to:
How many of these Unalienable Rights has our Federal and State government abridged? We have truly lost our way.
Blackstone argued that people have three great natural rights: “the right of personal security,” “the right of personal liberty,” and “the right of private property.” John Adams argued that the “Pursuit of Happiness” for citizens was, “the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”
If we truly have the right to free association, why does this administration label us as bigots when we exercise it? If we can bear arms for self-defense, why won’t this administration allow the citizens of Washington DC and Chicago to exercise it? Please remember this when voting this November. We must take back our country.
The next principle to be discussed is our Founders’ belief in the role of the revealed law.
For greater information on this and other founding principles, please see The Five Thousand Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.Self-Government
- Bear arms for self-defense
- Own, Develop, and dispose of property
- Make personal choices
- Of Free conscience
- Choose a profession
- Chose a mate
- Beget one’s kind
- Assemble
- Petition
- Free Speech
- Free Press
- Enjoy the fruits of one’s labors
- Improve one’s position through barter and sale
- Contrive and invent
- Explore the natural resources of the earth
- Privacy
- Provide personal security
- Provide nature’s necessities — air, food, water, and shelter
- A fair trial
- Free Association
- Contract
How many of these Unalienable Rights has our Federal and State government abridged? We have truly lost our way.
Blackstone argued that people have three great natural rights: “the right of personal security,” “the right of personal liberty,” and “the right of private property.” John Adams argued that the “Pursuit of Happiness” for citizens was, “the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”
If we truly have the right to free association, why does this administration label us as bigots when we exercise it? If we can bear arms for self-defense, why won’t this administration allow the citizens of Washington DC and Chicago to exercise it? Please remember this when voting this November. We must take back our country.
The next principle to be discussed is our Founders’ belief in the role of the revealed law.
For greater information on this and other founding principles, please see The Five Thousand Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.
Texans for Constitutional Government 
Truely I have researched this in great detail and challenge both the State of Texas/STATE OF TEXAS, not to beconfused with the Texas [Republic] as well as the UNITED STATES (inc.) as defined in Title 28 USC 3002(15), to find some interesting responses. As one who has had his liberty unlawfully abridged via fraud/non-disclosure through an Admiralty jurisdiction outside the protections of the limitations placed upon government by the Generic Constitution for the united States I have become the target of threats and harrasment however veiled/prevaded. I’m probably in danger of life and limb as I continue to fight for the justice provided under due process of law, equal protection of law and equitable Maxims of law, as mandadted by the Bible itself as accepted by the Congress US. Abridgement of my Unailienable rights. See case number 4:12-cv-00208 district court of the United states (southern district) which is a military district under admiralty jurisdiction of the US District Court. did we the peaple fall asleep? Is this encroachment cleverly instituted by the congress and courts/United Nations? Read the congressional records? Mass media to blame/idiot box(TV), or do we do this to ourselves when we feel the need to pass a law such as smoking bans because we don’t like smoking and rather than exercise our freedom to patronize another establishment, attempt to impose our will on others. Or change the channel if we don’t like what is brodcast on the one we turned to? who are the true sovereigns in this land? who hold the true authority. How do government offices afford plush carpet and flat screen vidio monitors?
I personally would like to save this blog, “10.
Unalienable Rights | Texans for Constitutional Government” on my very own web site.
Do you mind in the event Ido it? Thanks a lot ,Frances
No problem, we provide this information for the public!
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