The US Declaration of Independence is one of the most influential documents in the history of libertarianism. The preamble has had a lasting impact on the philosophy of rights:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
However, the original text does not accurately reflect later developments in the libertarian conception of rights. If it did, it might read something like this:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are equally subject to universal law, that they have certain unalienable Rights, that among these are property rights to one's body and to anything acquired by homesteading or voluntary agreement, that opposing these rights is rationally indefensible.
Some notes on the original declaration:
- It is not self-evident that all men are created equal since they are obviously not equal physically, in aptitude, in family circumstances, nor in numerous other ways. What is self-evident is the principle that regardless of the circumstances of their birth, they are equally subject to universal law.
- Self ownership includes the right to one's life, since to damage a body is an assault on that person's property. Similarly, liberty is a derivative concept of self ownership.
- The reference to happiness was a compromise (originally it was supposed to be property which is much clearer). Since every individual can be said to pursue happiness by definition, referring to the pursuit of happiness is either superfluous or irrelevant.
- In referencing property instead of happiness, it is clearer to identify the legitimate sources of property rights: self ownership as the best objective link to the body, homesteading as the objective rule for new property, and voluntary agreement for everything else.
- The reason something is self-evident is because it cannot be denied without contradiction. That was not quite true of the original preamble but is true for the suggested revision above.