General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 2nd amendment can be altered like all the other amendments the Xtreme court has screwed with [View all]jody
(26,624 posts)believe "rights did not pre-exist the Constitution" ratified by the states later.
Constitution ratification dates
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Delaware; December 7, 1787
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Pennsylvania; December 12, 1787
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New Jersey; December 18, 1787
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Georgia; January 2, 1788
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Connecticut; January 8, 1788
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Massachusetts; February 6, 1788
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Maryland; April 28, 1788.
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of South Carolina; May 23, 1788.
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New Hampshire; June 21, 1788
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Virginia; June 26, 1788.
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New York; July 26, 1788
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of North Carolina; November 21, 1789
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Rhode Island; May 29, 1790.
You also want to talk about God as the source of "rights" but I've never said that.
I've posted several times that PA & VT's declaration of rights was simply a way of people in their sovereign capacity reserving unto themselves certain things that were off-limits to the government they were creating.
Rights of the individual protect each person against the tyranny of a simple majority in a pure democracy, a danger recognized by most of the founding fathers.
On a related vein, see:
Natural, inherent, inalienable rights versus privileges granted by Government
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x161892
Parsing Pennsylvania and Vermont constitutions, 1776 and 1777
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x152320
More recently in DC v Heller (2008) SCOTUS acknowledged rights that PA & VT declared were "natural, inherent, inalienable/unalienable" as preexisting our Constitution. The court also grouped rights enumerated in the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments together, i.e. they survive or die together.