Question

What fundamental rights ought to be extended to all persons?

Answer 1

The typical Anglo-American formulation of rights is "life, liberty, and property." In the Declaration of Independence, it wasn't phrased like that, though it was "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Why Thomas Jefferson chose those words rather than "property" I don't know, but I suspect that it was in order to stress the concept of "self-determination", which was also very popular in the late eighteenth century. However, this language never really made it into much of our legal system.