Faui ha INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS Cpayae2aeaeenO also a matter of individual freedom.As Alfred H.Kelly wrote,"A system of constitutional government worthy of the name embodies...a 'system of ordered liberty,'in which the people are guaranteed certain fundamental rights and immunities against the exercise of arbitrary power by the state. The concept of individual rights holds that each person should be free to pursue a life of his or her own choosing,as long as this freedom does not unduly restrict that of other people.This idea came to America from England.The early settlers enjoyed"the rights of Englishmen,"which included trial by jury and some freedom of expression.These rights had developed over centuries and gained strength when John Locke declared (in To Treatises of Government, 1690)that the purpose of the state is to protect the natural rights of individuals.The Declaration of Independence (1776)proclaimed that "all men...are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,"but when the Constitution was written in 1787,no list of protected rights was included.The Bill of Rights(1791)provided such a list and has been the constitutional focus of individual rights in the United States. 87