- Life
- Liberty
- Pursuit of happiness
The Declaration of Independence lists three rights that the Founding Fathers considered to be natural and “unalienable.”
They are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
These ideas about freedom and individual rights were the basis for declaring America’s independence. Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers believed that people are born with natural rights that no government can take away. Government exists to protect these rights.
Because the people voluntarily give up power to a government, they can take that power back. The British government was not protecting the rights of the colonists, so the colonies took back their power and separated from Great Britain.
** As you prepare for U.S. citizenship, Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons will help you study for the civics and English portions of the naturalization interview. There are 100 civics (history and government) questions on the naturalization test. During your naturalization interview, you will be asked up to 10 questions from the list of 100 questions. You must answer correctly six (6) of the 10 questions to pass the civics test.