Problem: Do you believe in universal human rights? Do all human beings have the rights to life, liberty, and property? Were the classical liberals in England during the 17th century the progressives of the day, when they launched the world's first anti-slavery movement? At the time of the American founding, slavery was rampant and accepted as natural across Africa, the Middle East, China, Japan, India, and the rest of the nonwestern world. Were the slave societies of Africa, the Middle East, India, and China?