A natural right is a right every person is born with. They are rights that people die with and that remain theirs throughout their entire lives. The Declaration of Independence says, “governments are instituted among men” to protect these rights.

The Founders knew every person had different talents and abilities to achieve, but also that every person has natural rights including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Their natural rights understanding did not mean that the national or state governments can or should meet every need or want of the citizenry. Instead, the Founders held that each individual and family should have the freedom to provide for themselves. They also held that individuals and families had moral and civic responsibilities to care for others, but that for the most part the government, especially at the national and state levels, is ill-equipped to best care for individuals in need.

The right to think for oneself is a natural right. The others are rights or privileges provided by the government and can be taken away.

America’s Founders knew that it would take a balance of government at the national, state, and local levels to protect citizens’ rights. James Madison wrote about this idea in Federalist 10 and Federalist 51.

France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man was written after America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The Magna Carta, John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, and The English Declaration of Rights all had an influence on the Founder’s understanding of government and natural rights.