Towards A Lasting America A Reexamination of the Rights Narrative of America's Constitutional Framework
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Abstract
To be an American is to be a bearer of rights. These rights are enshrined in the American creed of the Declaration
of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights and are said to come from God and nature. With the increasing
secularization of America and the loss of traditional mediating institutions, the identity of Americans as “bearers
of rights” is thought of as the last unifying identity. Moreover, in public discourse, new “de-facto” rights such as the
right of individuals to be free from offense increasingly hold similar authority to those enshrined in the American
creed. The fluctuation of America’s natural rights doctrine raises the questions of whether or not rights-language
and America’s rights-doctrine is an adequate guide for human beings in political community and whether or not “thehuman-
person-as-bearer-of-rights” reflects a sufficient understanding of anthropology. This paper explores these two
questions and concludes that America’s natural rights doctrine as it stands is not a sufficient guide to political activity
nor is it reflective of authentic human anthropology. After an examination into the history of natural rights and into
the interpretations of modern thinkers, this paper concludes that America’s natural rights doctrine must be realigned
to the Scholastic tradition of natural rights and accompanied by a renewed attention to the New England and Puritan
township that de Tocqueville keenly observed.
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