united-states criminal-law
Unalienable Rights
<p>What are unalienable rights?  Surely, noone actually has these rights, correct?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>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...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In theory, these rights are granted to US citizens by the Constitution and its amendments.  As to whether or not US citizens actually have these rights, Constitutional scholars can and will argue back and forth on that without making a real decision, partly due to the non-specific nature of the rights described in your quote.</p>

<p>It's important to note that the quote you provided is actually from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence" rel="nofollow">US Declaration of Independence</a>, which declared that the 13 colonies were no longer going to be British colonies, but rather their own separate nation (keep in mind that from a British perspective, this was treason).</p>

<p>The actual rights that US citizens possess are granted primarily by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution" rel="nofollow">US Constitution</a> and its amendments (especially the first ten, also known as the Bill of Rights). This forms the basic foundation for our governmental system, on which all other parts of it are built.  While many people feel that the wording of the Declaration of Independence should be used to help interpret the Constitution, there's nothing in the Constitution that formally states that.  Historically, it's also important to recognize that the current Constitution is not the original one - the first document formalizing the federal government of the US was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation" rel="nofollow">Articles of Confederation</a>, which was the law of the land for over a decade before being superseded.</p>

<p>Actually, unalienable rights are not granted but are self-evident.  Therefore, the formative documents of the US sovereign state attempt to lay out those rights which are belayed and appropriated to the State, rather than to lay out those rights which are reserved to the individual.  The State takes certain rights, as enumerated in the origin documents, and makes no statement nor opinion as to any other rights as may exist (or not.)</p>
