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When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.--

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—

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Civil Rights: The individual rights of personal liberty guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and by the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments of the United States Constitution, as well by legislation such as the Voting Rights Act. Civil Rights include especially the right to vote, the right of due process, and the right of equal protection under the law.

Life: The word “Life” within the frame work of Constitutional Law, is the rights of an individual that are protected by the Federal (United States) Constitution, which includes all personal rights and their enjoyment of the facilities, acquiring useful knowledge, the right to marry, establish a home, and bring up children, freedom of worship, conscience, contract, occupation, speech, assembly and press. 

Liberty: Freedom; exemption from extraneous control. Freedom from all restraint, under conditions essential to the equal enjoyment of the same right by others; freedom regulated by law. The absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations and prohibitions imposed in the interests of the community. 

The power of the will to follow the dictates of its unrestricted choice, and to direct the external acts of the individual without restraint, coercion, or control from other persons.

The word “Liberty” includes and comprehends all personal rights and their enjoyment. It embraces freedom from duress; freedom from governmental interferences in the exercise of intellect, information of opinions, in the expression of them, and in the action or interaction dictated by judgment, freedom from servitude, imprisonment, or restraint, freedom in enjoyment and use of all of one’s powers, facilities and property; freedom of assembly; freedom of citizen from banishment; freedom of conscience; freedom of contract; freedom of locomotion or movement; freedom of occupation; freedom of press; freedom of religion.

Liberty also embraces right of self-defense against unlawful violence; right to acquire and enjoy property; right to acquire useful knowledge; right to carry on business; right to earn a livelihood in any lawful calling; right to emigrate, and if a citizen, to return; right to engage in a lawful business, to determine the price of one’s labor, and to fix the hours when one’s place of business shall be kept open; right to enjoy to the fullest extent the privileges and immunities given or assured by law to people living within the country; right to forswear allegiance and expatriate oneself; right to freely buy and sell as others may; right to live and work where one will; right to marry and to have a family; right to pursue chosen calling; right to use property according to one’s will.

Liberty, on its positive side, denotes the fullness of individual existence; on its negative side it denotes the necessary restraint on all, which is needed to promote the greatest possible amount of liberty for each.

The word “Liberty” as used in the state and federal constitutions means, in a negative sense, freedom from restraint, but in a positive sense, it involves the idea of freedom secured by the imposition of restraint, and it is in this positive sense that the state, in exercise of its police powers, promotes the freedom of all by the imposition upon particular persons of restraints which are deemed necessary for the general welfare. 

The term “Liberty” as used in the Constitution means more than freedom from arrest or restraint and includes freedom of action, freedom to own, control, and to use property, freedom to pursue any lawful trade, business or calling, and freedom to make all proper contracts in relation thereto.

The “personal liberty” guaranteed by the Thirteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution, consists in the power of locomotion without imprisonment or restraint unless by due course of law, except those restraint imposed to prevent commission of threatened crime or in punishment of crime committed, those in punishment of contempt of courts or legislative bodies or to render their jurisdiction effectual, and those necessary to enforce the duty citizens owe in defense of the state to protect community against acts of those who by reason of mental infirmity are incapable of self-control.

The word “Liberty” safeguarded by the Fourteenth Amendment is liberty in a social organization which requires the protection of law against evils which menace the health, safety, morals, and welfare of the people. 

Also, a franchise or personal privilege, being some part of the sovereign power, vested in an individual, either by grant or prescription. 

Civil Liberty: The liberty of a member of society, being a man’s natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws (and no further) as it is necessary and expedient for the general advantage of the public; The power of doing whatever the laws permit.

The term “Liberty” also means the greatest amount of absolute liberty which can, in the nature of things, be equally possessed by every citizen in a state.

Guaranteed protection against interference with the interests and rights held dear and important by large classes of civilized men, or by all members of a state, together with and effectual share in the making and administration of the laws, as the best apparatus to secure that protection.

Civil Rights: The individual rights of personal liberty guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and by the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments of the United States Constitution, as well by legislation such as the Voting Rights Act. Civil Rights include especially the right to vote, the right of due process, and the right of equal protection under the law.

Pursuit of Happiness: As used in constitutional law, this right includes personal freedom of contract, exemption from oppression or invidious discrimination, the right to follow one’s individual preference in the choice of an occupation and the application and the privileges of the family and the home.

The right to follow or pursue any occupation or profession without restriction and without having any burden imposed upon others in a similar situation.