All Men Are Born Equally Free

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As George Mason, a delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention, stated in his draft for the Virginia Declaration of Rights, "all men are born equally free," and hold "certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity”. Government by consent arises through a contract protecting the enjoyment of those rights and the subsequent “happiness and safety” of civil society. Despite differences in character, intellect, lineage, wealth, size, and any other trait, no one person is as superior as to govern another without that other person’s consent. Furthermore, Virginia Declaration also argues that natural rights guide government and specifies structures and practices of government that follow, such as the consent of the governed, representation, broad suffrage, and separation of powers.

According to Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar and Catholic priest, in his “Natural Law Theory”, he claims that the standard of morality in some sense derives from the nature of the world and the nature of human beings. Aquinas also states that natural law is that part of the eternal law of God which is knowable by human beings by means of their powers of reason.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights ends with a statement reaffirming the ideals of classical republicanism about civic virtue and religious values. Such a society based on consent and devoted to the common good of its member’s demands as well a certain character of its citizens: “That no free government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” Obviously, religion plays a major role in such character education. Though insisting on “the free exercise of religion” and the freedom of the conscience, the Declaration also observes “that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.” The English philosopher, John Locke, and many others believed that people agreed to give up some of the rights they possessed in “the state of nature” to receive the security and protections of government. In support of this, one Supreme Court in 1998 case explored the extent common welfare overrides an individual’s right. In the Supreme Court case, Calder v. Bull (1798), Justice Samuel Chase argued that the government has no authority to interfere with an individual’s rights, and “the general principles of law and reason” forbid the legislature from interfering. He explained that judges ought to rely on natural law when making their decisions. As a response, Justice James Iredell stated that courts cannot strike down statutes based solely upon principles of natural justice. Iredell affirmed the Supreme Court only reviews legislative acts based upon their validity to the authority’s vested actions.

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