ESSAYS

ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

AND THEIR

POLITICAL GUARANTIES:

BY E. P. HURLBUT,

COUNSELOR AT LAW IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.

TOR

LIBRARI

NEW-YORK

NEW-YORK:

GREELEY & MCELRATH, 158 NASSAU-STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845,

BY GREELEY & MCELRATH,

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

CHAPTER I.

THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
..Page 7 to 27

Rights are not created by the law. It cannot prescribe a duty or declare a

right except in consonance with the Natural Laws.-The law ought to be

merely declaratory of Natural Rights and Wrongs.-The necessity of a Men-

tal Philosophy to a proper understanding of Human Rights.-Phrenology

adopted as the true Philosophy of Mind.-Mr. Bentham's error in denying

Natural Rights.-Theory of Human Rights based on the innate powers and

dispositions of the mind.-The fundamental rights of man are, the Right to

Existence and the Right to Happiness.-The Argument stated. The Natural

Depravity of Man denied.-The faculties of Mankind considered in reference

to the Social State.-The Argument.-Right to live in Society inferred.—And

such being the right of mankind, the State cannot require the surrender of

any Natural Rights from the Social Man.

CHAPTER II.

THE TRUE FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT.
-p. 28-46

Government is a thing of Moral Necessity, arising from inferior intellectual and

Moral organizations in a portion of Mankind.-The doctrine of Equality con-

sidered. What degree of moral restraint may be imposed by Government.

-A good man needs no coercion from the law. The true idea of Civil Liber-

ty. The adaptation of the Laws to the Constitution of the Human Mind.—

The laws ought to be general, equal, and impartial.-Privileges at war with

Rights.-The usurpation and injustice of Special Legislation."

CHAPTER III.

THE CONSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT
.p. 46-61

The people as Sovereign by the Constitution delegate the power of govern.

ment to their representatives or agents. In a pure Democracy there is no ne-

cessity for a written Constitution.-Reasons for a written Constitution in a

Representative Government.-The office of the Constitution. It is not irre-

vocable-but may be altered or changed at the pleasure of the majority of

the people.-The people cannot bind themselves irrevocably to any form of

Government or mode of administration.-The distribution of the powers of

Government by the Constitution.--Appointment of officers-Their choice by

the people.-Reflections upon American imitations of the British Constitution,