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Article: Natural Rights and the New Republicanism.
- Article from:
- American Political Science Review
- Article date:
- December 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Cambridge University Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The point of departure for this painstaking and exhaustive account of the origin and development of Whig political philosophy is a comparison of the English Declaration of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence. The comparison indicates that there is only, at best, a slight theoretical connection between these two great political documents. While the Declaration of Rights derives its dignity from positive laws and customs - the "ancient rights and liberties" of England - the Declaration of Independence relies on the "laws of nature and nature's God." As Zuckert notes, the contrast could not be more compelling: "The place of rights in the Declaration of Rights ...