“Unlocking Humanity: The Surprising Secret Behind What Makes Us Truly Human”
Once again, coming up with very little original himself, with Adams’ Declaration of Rights, he collected elements from countless other governments, such as the British government, and ideas from individuals’ works throughout history on the subject to develop his list of fundamental rights. He also borrowed heavily from the Declaration of Independence, which in turn borrowed heavily from other ideas, and on and on. Again, all of this was more of a culmination of previous works and ideas all put together to try to come up with the best combined system overall.
Speaking of the Declaration of Independence, at this point in history it had been largely dismissed as having no significant importance to the budding United States in terms of how it was governed. This only really changed thanks to John Adam’s son, John Quincy Adams, and then Abraham Lincoln continuing John Quincy’s push to make the Declaration of Independence a defining element of how the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted.
Going back to the Massachusetts constitution and borrowing other ideas, John Adams and the delegates would, as alluded to, begin the Declaration of Rights section stating a version of some very familiar words, but this time explicitly putting it in the Constitution from the start: “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”
