|
The only
purpose of the Federal and State governments of the United States and the united States is to protect life, liberty, and property.
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made
laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty,
and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in
the first place.
- Frederic Bastiat
|
They are endowed by their Creator
with inherent and
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.
- Declaration of
Independence.
|
'We hold these truths to be
self-evident'-that is, so
plain that their truth is recognized upon their mere statement-'that all men are endowed'-not by
edicts of emperors, or
decrees of parliament, or acts of congress, but 'by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights.'-that is, rights
which cannot be bartered away, or given away, or taken away, except in
punishment of crime-'and that
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and to
secure these'-not grant
them, but secure them- 'governments
are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed.'
- FIELD, J., concurring
Buthcher's Union Co. v. Crescent City Co.,
111 U.S. 746 (1884) |
What these fundamental
principles are, it would be more tedious than difficult to enumerate.
They may all, however, be comprehended under the following general
heads: protection by the government,
with the right to acquire and possess
property of every kind, and to
pursue
and obtain happiness and safety, subject, nevertheless, to such
restraints as the government may prescribe for the general good of the
whole.'
- Supreme Court - IN RE Slaughter-House Cases,
83 U.S. 36 (1872) |
|