自然权利
独立与自然权利宣言
https://www.crf-usa.org/foundations-of-our-constitution/natural-rights.html#:~:text=Locke%20wrote%20that%20all%20individuals,%2C%20liberty%2C%20and% 20属性.%22
托马斯·杰斐逊
托马斯·杰斐逊借鉴了他那个时代的当前思想，用自然权利思想来证明宣布脱离英国独立是合理的。
托马斯·杰斐逊 (Thomas Jefferson)，33 岁，于 1775 年 6 月 20 日作为弗吉尼亚代表出席第二次大陆会议抵达费城。 殖民者和英国军队已经在列克星敦、康科德和邦克山爆发了战斗。 即便如此，国会中的大多数人还是希望与母国达成一些共同协议。
一年多来，美国人向英国发出请愿书，表达对英国政府的不满。 殖民者甚至向英国人民发出呼吁，恳求他们选出更愿意妥协的不同议员。 但“英国弟兄”拒绝这样做。
杰斐逊抵达费城后不久，国会指派他起草一份文件，解释殖民者为何拿起武器反对英国。 即使到了这么晚，国会仍然只将日益严重的冲突归咎于议会和国王的政府部长，而不是乔治国王本人。 杰斐逊的《拿起武器的原因和必要性宣言》没有宣布独立，但指出了从英国统治美洲殖民地的愚蠢行为。
然而，议会和乔治国王都没有兴趣进行谈判以防止全面战争。 1775 年 8 月，乔治国王发布公告，指控美国人“已经开始公开叛乱”。 几个月后，议会通过了一项重大法案，将美洲殖民地置于国王的保护之外。 这一法案允许扣押美国船只，为烧毁殖民地城镇辩护，并导致派遣战舰和军队，包括外国雇佣兵，镇压叛乱。 与此同时，弗吉尼亚皇家总督向加入英国事业的奴隶提供了自由。 英国国王和政府的这些行为激怒了对独立犹豫不决的美国人，他们几乎肯定会与英国开战。
1776 年 5 月，大陆会议迈出了决定性的一步，通过了一项攻击乔治国王本人的决议。 这在英国历史上并不是第一次发生。 1688年，议会也同样谴责了国王詹姆斯二世。 这导致了所谓的光荣革命，将詹姆斯赶下王位。 现在，近一百年后，大陆会议正式宣布独立是与乔治国王彻底决裂的唯一障碍。
独立宣言
甚至在大陆会议宣布独立之前，大多数殖民地以及一些城镇、县甚至私人组织就已经发表了自己的宣言。 在大多数情况下，这些声明详细说明了英国滥用权力并要求自治权。
1776年6月8日，大陆会议投票决定起草独立宣言，并迅速任命一个委员会起草正式文件。 但实际起草草案的工作落到了托马斯·杰斐逊身上，主要是因为约翰·亚当斯和其他委员会成员正忙于应对与英格兰迅速升级的战争。
杰斐逊在处理其他职责的同时断断续续地工作，几天内就完成了宣言的草稿。 他在开头两段中指出，当政府长期滥用人民的基本自然权利时，人民有权推翻政府。 然后，在对乔治国王的直接攻击中，杰斐逊列举了国王侵犯美洲殖民者权利的 20 个例子。 在彻底证明国王是“暴君”、“不适合成为人民的统治者”之后，杰斐逊继续谴责英国人民。 他写道，“这些无情的弟兄们”再次当选议会议员，他们与国王密谋破坏殖民者的权利。 杰斐逊在草案的结尾说道：“我们确实主张并宣布这些殖民地是自由和独立的国家……”
当杰斐逊于 6 月 28 日向国会提交草案时，代表们很少花时间讨论他的开篇段落，而这些段落如今已成为《独立宣言》中最著名的部分。 相反，他们把注意力集中在杰斐逊对乔治国王和英国人民的不满清单上。
代表们做了一些小的修改，以提高宣言的清晰度和准确性。 但他们也撕毁了杰斐逊草案的最后部分，删除了大约 25%。
他们消除了杰斐逊针对英国人民的大部分严厉语言，并完全消除了杰斐逊对奴隶制和奴隶贸易的热情攻击。
杰斐逊对国王最后的不满，关于奴隶制的部分被删除，可能是由于南方奴隶制代表的反对。 但杰斐逊的论点被削弱了，他单独指责国王继续进行奴隶贸易，然后谴责国王向与英国人一起对抗美国叛军的奴隶提供自由。
随着越来越多的话语被删减或改变，杰斐逊变得沮丧。 他后来写道，国会“破坏”了他的草案。
1776 年 7 月 2 日，大陆会议投票宣布美洲殖民地脱离英国统治而独立。 七月四日，他们批准了《独立宣言》的最终编辑版本。 现在已经没有回头路了。
自然权利
大陆会议成员只对杰斐逊宣言草案的开头几段做了两处微小的修改。 在这两段中，杰斐逊提出了一些关键思想：“人人生而平等”、“不可剥夺的权利”、“生命、自由和对幸福的追求”。 杰斐逊从哪里得到这些想法？
杰斐逊是一位启蒙运动的人物。 在 17 世纪和 18 世纪这个时期，思想家转向理性和科学来解释物理宇宙和人类行为。 像杰斐逊这样的人认为，通过发现“自然法则”，人类可以得到改善。
杰斐逊并没有发明他用来证明美国革命合理性的思想。 他本人表示，他采纳了“当今的和谐情绪”。 可以说，这些想法在当时是“空中楼阁”。
作为一位启蒙运动人士，杰斐逊深谙英国历史和政治哲学。 他还阅读了弗吉尼亚和其他殖民地起草的独立声明以及汤姆·潘恩和乔治·梅森等革命同僚的著作。 在撰写宣言时，杰斐逊遵循了 1689 年光荣革命后撰写的英国《权利宣言》的格式。
今天大多数学者认为，《独立宣言》中最著名的思想是杰斐逊从英国哲学家约翰·洛克的著作中得出的。 1689 年，英国光荣革命推翻了詹姆斯二世的统治，洛克于 1689 年撰写了《政府论》。
洛克写道，所有个人都是平等的，因为他们生来就享有某些“不可剥夺的”自然权利。 也就是说，权利是上帝赋予的，永远不能被剥夺，甚至不能被放弃。 洛克说，这些基本自然权利包括“生命、自由和财产”。
洛克认为，人类最基本的自然法则是人类的生存。 他认为，为了实现这一目的，个人有权利也有义务保护自己的生命。 然而，杀人犯却丧失了生命权，因为他们的行为超出了理性法则。
洛克还认为，只要不干涉他人的自由，个人就应该自由地选择如何过自己的生活。 因此，洛克认为自由应该是深远的。
洛克所说的“财产”不仅仅指政府在某些情况下可以出售、赠送甚至没收的土地和货物。 财产还指个人的所有权，其中包括个人福祉的权利。 然而，杰斐逊用“追求幸福”一词代替了洛克和其他人用来描述机会自由以及帮助有需要的人的责任的短语。
洛克写道，政府的目的是保障和保护上帝赋予人民的不可剥夺的自然权利。 就人民而言，他们必须遵守统治者的法律。 因此，统治者和被统治者之间存在着某种契约。 但是，洛克总结道，如果一个政府长期以“一连串的暴行”迫害其人民，人民就有权抵制该政府，改变或废除它，并创建一个新的政治制度。
杰斐逊采用约翰·洛克的自然权利理论为革命提供了理由。 然后他继续证明 1776 年必须进行革命才能结束乔治国王对殖民者的暴政。
“人们生来平等”
自 1776 年以来，《独立宣言》中没有哪句话比杰斐逊的“人人生而平等”这句话更受关注。 但是，当殖民地存在奴隶制时，杰斐逊和宣言的其他签署者怎么能相信这一点呢？ 一些奴隶主认为，只有当奴隶变得文明时，他们才会变得平等并享有自然权利。 对于终身拥有奴隶的杰斐逊来说，这是一个复杂得多的问题。
杰斐逊很小的时候就得出结论，奴隶制是错误的。 值得赞扬的是，他试图在《独立宣言》中谴责奴隶制，或者至少是奴隶贸易。 一些学者认为，杰斐逊同意苏格兰哲学家弗朗西斯·哈奇森的观点，即所有人在道德上都是平等的，并且“自然不创造主人，也不创造奴隶”。 但是，这如何解释杰斐逊一生中保留了大部分奴隶呢？
看来，虽然杰斐逊原则上反对奴隶制，但他认为一旦奴隶制建立，就没有明显的方法来结束它。 如果奴隶们一下子被解放，杰斐逊担心白人的偏见和黑人的痛苦会导致一场白人获胜的灭绝战争。 他担心，如果奴隶被单独解放，他们将无处可去，也没有办法独自生存。 当然，杰斐逊和大多数其他南方种植园主在经济上也依赖奴隶劳动。
杰斐逊能想出的最好方案就是将奴隶儿童从父母身边带走，送入学校接受教育，并以公费教授一门手艺。 成年后，他们会被运送到某个地方的殖民地，并获得工具和劳作动物，以“自由独立的人民”的身份开始新的生活。
杰斐逊的异想天开的计划最终没有实现。 新的美利坚合众国的奴隶制又持续了 89 年，直到内战结束。 但即便如此，《独立宣言》中承诺的平等不仅没有给予非裔美国人，也没有给予其他少数族裔和妇女。 即使在今天，美国人仍然不确定平权行动、性别歧视和同性恋权利等领域的平等意味着什么。
《独立宣言》没有法律效力。 它不像宪法和权利法案那样属于美国基本法的一部分。 但它的话语作为美国的理想引起了共鸣。 19世纪的废奴主义者要求美国人实现平等的理想并消除奴隶制。 20世纪的民权运动迫使美国履行宣言中的承诺。 这份文件至今仍在向我们讲述美国人的权利，就像 1776 年那样。
独立宣言全文
用于讨论和写作
列出约翰·洛克的自然权利和革命理论的主要思想。 然后阅读杰斐逊《独立宣言》的前两段。 您认为有哪些相同点和不同点？
写一封信给托马斯·杰斐逊，表达你对他关于平等和奴隶制的想法的看法。
“人们生来平等。” 您认为这对我们今天意味着什么？
了解更多信息
两次采访波琳·迈尔（Pauline Maier），她是麻省理工学院的历史学教授，也是《美国圣经：制定独立宣言》的作者。 美国公共广播公司新小时
读书笔记
“生命、自由和对幸福的追求”
在这项活动中，学生讨论《独立宣言》中的一些理想。
组成小组讨论杰斐逊在《独立宣言》中确定的三项自然权利的含义：“生命、自由和追求幸福”。
对于这三项权利中的每一项，小组成员都应该回答这个问题：这项权利在我们今天的生活中具体指什么？
然后，各小组应将他们的答案发布给班上其他人看。
举行一般性班级讨论，并在必要时进行投票，以放弃或保留每个小组为这三项权利制定的含义。
© 2001，宪法权利基金会，601 South Kinglsey Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90005，电话 (213) 487-5590 传真 (213) 386-0459
Natural Rights
The Declaration of Independence and Natural Rights
https://www.crf-usa.org/foundations-of-our-constitution/natural-rights.html#:~:text=Locke%20wrote%20that%20all%20individuals,%2C%20liberty%2C%20and%20property.%22
 |
| Thomas Jefferson (Library of Congress) |
Thomas Jefferson, drawing on the current thinking of his time, used natural rights ideas to justify declaring independence from England.
Thomas Jefferson, age 33, arrived in Philadelphia on June 20, 1775, as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Fighting at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill had already broken out between the colonists and British troops. Even so, most in Congress wanted to work out some mutual agreement with the mother country.
For more than a year, the Americans had sent petitions to England proclaiming their grievances against the British government. Colonists even appealed to the British people, pleading with them to elect different members of Parliament who would be more open to compromise. But the "British brethren" refused to do this.Soon after Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia, Congress assigned him to draft a document explaining why the colonists had taken up arms against England. Even at this late date, the Congress still blamed only Parliament and the king's government ministers, not King George himself, for the growing conflict. Jefferson's Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms stopped short of declaring independence, but pointed out the folly of governing the American colonies from England.
Neither Parliament nor King George, however, were interested in negotiations to prevent all-out war. In August 1775, King George issued a proclamation charging that the Americans "had proceeded to open and avowed rebellion." A few months later, Parliament passed a significant act that placed the American colonies outside the king's protection. This act allowed the seizing of American ships, justified the burning of colonial towns, and led to sending war ships and troops, including foreign mercenaries, to put down the rebellion. Meanwhile, the royal governor of Virginia offered freedom to slaves who joined the British cause. These actions by the British king and government inflamed Americans who were undecided about independence and made war with England all but certain.
In May 1776, the Continental Congress took a fateful step and passed a resolution that attacked King George himself. This was not the first time in English history that such a thing had occurred. In 1688, Parliament had similarly denounced King James II. This led to the so-called Glorious Revolution, which drove James off the throne. Now, almost 100 years later, a formal declaration of independence by the Continental Congress was the only thing standing in the way of a complete break with King George.
The Declaration of Independence
Even before the Continental Congress declared independence, most colonies along with some towns, counties, and even private organizations had issued their own declarations. In most cases, these statements detailed British abuses of power and demanded the right of self-government.
On June 8, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to write a declaration of independence and quickly appointed a committee to draft a formal document. But the job of actually writing the draft fell to Thomas Jefferson, mainly because John Adams and other committee members were busy trying to manage the rapidly escalating war with England.
Working off and on while attending to other duties, Jefferson completed his draft of the declaration in a few days. He argued in his opening two paragraphs that a people had the right to overthrow their government when it abused their fundamental natural rights over a long period of time. Then in a direct attack on King George, Jefferson listed 20 instances when the king violated the rights of the American colonists. Having thoroughly laid out his proof that the king was a "tyrant" who was "unfit to be the ruler of a people," Jefferson continued on to condemn the British people. "These unfeeling brethren," he wrote, had reelected members of Parliament who had conspired with the king to destroy the rights of the colonists. Jefferson ended his draft by stating, "we do assert and declare these colonies to be free and independent states. . . ."
When Jefferson submitted his draft to the Congress on June 28, the delegates spent little time on his opening paragraphs, which today are the most famous parts of the Declaration of Independence. Instead, they concentrated on Jefferson's list of grievances against King George and the British people.
The delegates made some small changes to improve the Declaration's clarity and accuracy. But they also ripped apart the last sections of Jefferson's draft, deleting about 25 percent of it. They eliminated most of his harsh language directed against the British people and totally cut out Jefferson's passionate assault on slavery and the slave trade.
The removal of the section on slavery, Jefferson's last grievance against the king, probably resulted from objections by Southern slave-holding delegates. But Jefferson's argument was weakened when he blamed the king alone for continuing the slave trade and then condemned him for offering freedom to slaves who joined the British in fighting the American rebels.
Jefferson grew depressed as more and more of his words were cut or changed. He later wrote that the Congress had "mangled" his draft.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the American colonies from English rule. On the Fourth of July, they approved the final edited version of the Declaration of Independence. There would be no turning back now.
Natural Rights
The members of the Continental Congress made only two minor changes in the opening paragraphs of Jefferson's draft declaration. In these two paragraphs, Jefferson developed some key ideas: "all men are created equal," "inalienable rights," "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Where did Jefferson get these ideas?
Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment. This was the period during the 17th and 18th centuries when thinkers turned to reason and science to explain both the physical universe and human behavior. Those like Jefferson thought that by discovering the "laws of nature" humanity could be improved.
Jefferson did not invent the ideas that he used to justify the American Revolution. He himself said that he had adopted the "harmonizing sentiments of the day." These ideas were, so to speak, "in the air" at the time.
As a man of the Enlightenment, Jefferson was well acquainted with British history and political philosophy. He also had read the statements of independence drafted by Virginia and other colonies as well as the writings of fellow revolutionaries like Tom Paine and George Mason. In composing the declaration, Jefferson followed the format of the English Declaration of Rights, written after the Glorious Revolution of 1689.
Most scholars today believe that Jefferson derived the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence from the writings of English philosopher John Locke. Locke wrote his Second Treatise of Government in 1689 at the time of England's Glorious Revolution, which overthrew the rule of James II.
Locke wrote that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are "life, liberty, and property."
Locke believed that the most basic human law of nature is the preservation of mankind. To serve that purpose, he reasoned, individuals have both a right and a duty to preserve their own lives. Murderers, however, forfeit their right to life since they act outside the law of reason.
Locke also argued that individuals should be free to make choices about how to conduct their own lives as long as they do not interfere with the liberty of others. Locke therefore believed liberty should be far-reaching.
By "property," Locke meant more than land and goods that could be sold, given away, or even confiscated by the government under certain circumstances. Property also referred to ownership of one's self, which included a right to personal well being. Jefferson, however, substituted the phrase, "pursuit of happiness," which Locke and others had used to describe freedom of opportunity as well as the duty to help those in want.
The purpose of government, Locke wrote, is to secure and protect the God-given inalienable natural rights of the people. For their part, the people must obey the laws of their rulers. Thus, a sort of contract exists between the rulers and the ruled. But, Locke concluded, if a government persecutes its people with "a long train of abuses" over an extended period, the people have the right to resist that government, alter or abolish it, and create a new political system.
Jefferson adopted John Locke's theory of natural rights to provide a reason for revolution. He then went on to offer proof that revolution was necessary in 1776 to end King George's tyranny over the colonists.
"All Men Are Created Equal"
Since 1776, no words in the Declaration of Independence have received more attention than Jefferson's phrase, "All men are created equal." But how could Jefferson and the other signers of the declaration believe this when slavery existed in the colonies? Some slave owners argued that slaves would become equal and worthy of natural rights only when they became civilized. For Jefferson, a life-long owner of slaves, this was a much more complex issue.
At an early age, Jefferson concluded that slavery was wrong. To his credit, he attempted to denounce slavery, or at least the slave trade, in the Declaration of Independence. Some scholars believe that Jefferson agreed with the Scottish philosopher, Francis Hutcheson, that all men are born morally equal to one another and that "Nature makes none masters, none slaves." But, how does this explain that Jefferson kept most of his slaves throughout his lifetime?
It appears that while Jefferson opposed slavery in principle, he saw no obvious way to end it once it became established. If the slaves were freed all at once, Jefferson feared that white prejudice and black bitterness would result in a war of extermination that the whites would win. He fretted that if slaves were individually emancipated they would have nowhere to go and no means to survive on their own. Of course, Jefferson along with most other Southern plantation owners were also economically dependent on slave labor.
The best Jefferson could come up with was a plan to take slave children from their parents and put them in schools to be educated and taught a trade at public expense. Upon becoming adults, they would be transported to a colony somewhere and given tools and work animals to start a new life as a "free and independent people."
Nothing ever came of Jefferson's fanciful plan. Slavery in the new United States of America would last another 89 years until the end of the Civil War. But even then, the equality promised in the Declaration of Independence was denied not only to African Americans, but also to other minorities and women. Even today, Americans are still not certain what equality means in such areas as affirmative action, sex discrimination, and gay rights.
The Declaration of Independence has no legal authority. It is not part of the basic law of the United States like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But its words have resonated as the ideals of the United States. Abolitionists in the 19th century asked Americans to live up to the ideal of equality and eliminate slavery. The civil rights movement of the 20th century pressured America to honor the commitment made in the declaration. The document still speaks to us today about the rights of Americans, as it did in 1776.
The complete text of the Declaration of Independence
For Discussion and Writing
- List the main ideas in John Locke's theory of natural rights and revolution. Then read Jefferson's first two paragraphs in the Declaration of Independence. What similarities and differences do you see?
- Write a letter to Thomas Jefferson expressing your views on his ideas about equality and slavery.
- "All men are created equal." What do you think this means for us today?
For Further Information
Two interviews with with Pauline Maier, a Professor of History at MIT and author of American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. PBS Newhour
A C T I V I T Y
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"
In this activity, students discuss some of the ideals in the Declaration of Independence.
- Form small groups to discuss the meaning of the three natural rights that Jefferson identified in the Declaration of Independence: "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
- For each one of the three rights, group members should answer this question: What does this right specifically refer to in our lives today?
- The groups should then post their answers for the rest of the class to see.
- Hold a general class discussion and vote, if necessary, to drop or keep the meanings that each group has developed for the three rights.
