… is from Thomas Jefferson’s argument in the 1770 case Howell v. Netherland:
Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own will. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance.
DBx: Born on this date – April 13th – in 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia, Jefferson 33 years later wrote one of humankind’s most stirring, and justly most famous, defenses of individual liberty. The fact that Jefferson often failed personally to live up to his ideals is undeniable, well-known, and regrettable. Yet it’s also true that Jefferson’s quill was one of history’s most effective forces for true liberalism.
