George Washington

The following is a brief historical analysis of Rights in America, their roots and evolution. This is not a full analysis, and is only meant to give the reader an introduction to Rights theories in order to better explain the concepts developed throughout this webpage.

The analysis includes three sub-topics:

For some, geographic roots or cultural ties are the basic elements that make up the identity of a nation. In America, the diverse composition of the peoples calling themselves Americans invalidates these markers of identity. Americans instead find their identity through their belief in the "American Creed." This creed is a socio-political idea that combines the ideals of liberty, equality, individualism, democracy, and the rule of law under the constitution, to make up a group identity.

The sources of this are the Declaration of Independence, seventeenth century Protestantism (morality, individualism, and equality), and Lockean and the Enlightenment ideas (natural rights, liberty, social contract, limited role of govt. and its dependence on society, and equality).

America originated as the result of a conscious political act and of the assertion of certain basic political principles. These principles rest in the idea that each individual has rights. Among these are the right to achieve the fullest of his or her potential and thus, the right to privacy, the right to be an individual, and the government's duty to protect these rights. This is where the debate concerning the individual's rights and the government's duty to protect these rights begins.

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution depended heavily on Enlightenment ideas. One figure of this age which influenced the Framers was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who's universal and abstract concept of rights expanded the already existing notion of natural rights to all humans.

Hobbes and Locke most heavily influenced our Founding Fathers with their ideas regarding social contracts. According to this concept, a group enters into a contract with the government in which each person abandons the chaos of the 'outside world' and comes into a community which will guarantee his or her safety, freedom, and justice.

John Locke "argued for popular sovereignty, the right of rebellion against oppression, and toleration of religious minorities." According to Lockean logic, the state exists to serve its citizens and to guarantee their life, liberty, and property under a constitution" (Liberalism," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2003).

"Constitutionalism is, because of the ideas that created it, the idea that government can and should be legally limited in its powers, and that its authority depends on its observing these limitations" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/constitutionalism/).

The problem at the heart of the debate is the tension existing between constitutionalism and popular sovereignty. Given Lockean ideas which authorize people to leave the social contract if the government cannot guarantee citizen rights, government's have a great deal of incentive to expand their powers in order to fulfill their contract.

This expansion however, may infringe on the very rights it protects, thus the debate on rights, privacy, and government intervention begins with this question: Where does the authority of the government to protect individual's rights end and where the individual's right to privacy from government internvention begin?