Unalienable Rights And The Pursuit Of Happiness

Unalienable rights are rights that cannot be taken away, transferred to others, sold, surrendered, or denied. The word unalienable comes from alien, or in Latin, alienus, which means something that is somebody else’s, strange, or alien. By the joining of the prefix un- that means “not”; its definition changes. This word is most commonly known due to the declaration of independence, where Thomas Jefferson wrote, “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.” Hobbes’ description of rights attracted my attention. Among other rights, there are natural rights, which are privileges or

Therefore, that’s why rules are established. To avoid conflicts, you both agree on not punching each other again. This is just a brief example of why political rights are essential. It helps us maintain certain peace among us. Finally, natural rights who are not part of the act of exchanging ideas or comments with politics are what we consider unalienable rights; which as stated before are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Life, or the privilege to be alive, Liberty, or the freedom to live your life, and the Pursuit of Happiness, or the chance for yourself to pursue what makes you content. I would like to point out that the employment of the word happiness really captured my notice. Mainly because, in our modern age, we confuse happiness with hedonism, or pursuit of pleasure, which is temporal and leaves you wanting more and more, known such as the “hedonic treadmill”. And that is not what the founders of this document had in mind. Happiness, in fact, comes from the Old English, which meant “equal”, and around the 1500s was used as “good luck”, “success”, and