What word means basic rights of all people?
Answer
Liberty
Explanation
The word that means basic rights of all people, on the USCIS reading vocabulary list, is Liberty. Liberty, in the American constitutional tradition, means freedom from arbitrary or oppressive government interference and the right of individuals to live, think, speak, worship, and pursue happiness as they choose, consistent with the equal liberty of others.
The word appears at every important juncture in the founding documents. The Declaration of Independence lists Liberty alongside Life and the pursuit of Happiness as unalienable rights with which all people are endowed by their Creator. The Preamble to the Constitution states that the Constitution is established in part to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." The Fifth Amendment guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, applies the same guarantee to actions of state governments.
The Pledge of Allegiance ends with the phrase "with liberty and justice for all," and the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, a gift from France in 1886, has welcomed generations of immigrants to the United States and bears at its base the Emma Lazarus poem "The New Colossus," which describes the statue as the "Mother of Exiles." The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia bears the inscription "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof," from Leviticus 25:10. Patrick Henry's 1775 speech at the Second Virginia Convention famously declared "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
On the reading test Liberty may appear in a sentence about rights, the Pledge, or the Statue of Liberty.
Why this matters for your test
Liberty is the word that names the most foundational right in American constitutional thought. It appears in the Declaration, the Preamble, the Bill of Rights, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Pledge of Allegiance, and on monuments and currency.
Recognizing it in print prepares the applicant for many reading and civics test sentences about American principles.
Source: USCIS Reading Vocabulary (2025)
