"We hold these truths to be self evident, that we were endowed by our creator with unalienable (inalienable) rights"
They have to be from God.
if they were from man it would just be might makes right.
I disagree.
A “right†is a moral
principle (an idea, or complex thought) defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context (Ayn Rand,
Man's Rights). Like any principle or idea, it does not exist in a physical, measurable way. You can't cut open a man and pull out a right, take a picture of one, nor measure one with a ruler or scale. But a right can be
described, as any other principle or idea can be.
Natural rights (Jefferson's
unalienable rights, descended from Locke's
natural rights theory) are
natural, inherent in human nature, the logical outgrowth of man's capacity to reason. Only humans have rights, because only humans are capable of reason. "Animal rights" is a misnomer, and of course the Earth, rocks, trees, and other inanimate objects do not have rights.
The natural right to Life is the right of each person to his own life- nothing more. If I am alive, then you have no claim against my life- so long as I do not violate your natural rights.
The natural right of Liberty is the right of each man to act in accordance with his own free will - nothing more. Liberty is based on the principle of Self-Ownership:
I am a free Man, a moral agent. I own my life, not you nor the State. The Pursuit of Happiness is part of Liberty- for it is only by exercising one's free will that one can pursue happiness.
The natural right of Property is the right of each person to build, keep, and dispose of the fruits of his own labor - nothing more. The Pursuit of Happiness may be part of the right of Property, but not necessarily.
A natural right does not create a claim or demand against any other man, except for the demand to be left alone; the only limitations on natural rights are reality*, one's own conscience, and the equal rights of one's fellow man.
*Reality: that which is real, nature, the laws of physics, time, space, etc.Now, for the hard part. If you recall from Genesis, chapter 2, man
took the power of reason from God (literally, eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), for which man was banished from the Garden. Reason, and the natural rights that flow from it, are the result of Man's first assertion of independence, not a gift from God to Man. So, if you believe in the idea of "original sin", then natural rights must be sinful.