The concept of universal human rights may have been seeded by the Magna Carta, but did not reach fruition until the United States Constitution had been drafted in the late eighteenth century. Built on the Enlightenment values of individualism and inalienable universal rights, the Constitution helped lay the groundwork for the French Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen in 1789. In fact, these two documents emerged almost concurrently, in light of the major ideological, social and political changes taking place in Europe and North America. Those attitudinal changes would later take root globally. The universal human rights espoused and made law in these two documents started a revolution that resulted in the creation of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Four rights found in all three of these documents include freedom, equality, and the subordination of the law to the dignity of the person, principles that have transformed the nature of human relationships and socio-political realities.
Since the adoption of the United States Constitution and the French Declaration of the Rights of the Man, the belief that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” has prevailed (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 1). Each of these documents recognizes...
Any government that is characterized by “tyranny and oppression” can be deemed illegitimate because it violates the fundamental tenets of human rights as outlined in these three documents (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Preamble). All three of these documents proclaim the importance of national sovereignty, while still deeming tyrannical governments as being illegitimate. The conundrum between illegitimate tyrannical regimes and the right to national sovereignty continues to plague international relations. Therefore, these three documents radically transformed the legitimacy and nature of governments.
The Constitution of the United States is concerned mainly with the function, role, and structure of government, but its Bill of Rights is what really reflects the Enlightenment values of freedom, liberty, and universality. Even though it would take some time for these principles to become ensconced in law, universal human rights became the new ideal upon which societies would be formed. Throughout the world, governments pay lip service to the principles of universal human rights without actually ensuring the equal dissemination of…
