Natural Rights in AP US Government

From Locke's Second Treatise to Jefferson's "unalienable Rights"

The idea of natural rights is older than John Locke, but Locke developed an influential account of it in his Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690). He argued that people in a state of nature already have rights to life, liberty, and property. They form a government through a social contract to protect those rights more reliably. If the government turns on those rights, the people may replace it.

Thomas Jefferson, drafting the Declaration with help from Adams and Franklin, put this kind of reasoning into one sentence: all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Locke emphasized life, liberty, and property, while the Declaration names life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. "Unalienable" means the rights can't be given up or taken away.

Picking the natural rights line out of a Declaration excerpt

The Declaration's second paragraph packs natural rights, social contract, and popular sovereignty into a few lines, so an excerpt from it can point to more than one ideal. Natural rights is part of Topic 1.1, Ideals of Democracy, in Unit 1, which asks you to explain how these ideals show up in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

A multiple-choice text stimulus set may quote the Declaration and ask which ideal a passage reflects. The tricky part is that one paragraph contains several ideals back to back:

• "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" is natural rights.
• "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men" is the social contract, since government exists for a purpose people agreed to.
• "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" is popular sovereignty.
• "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it" ties all three together as the justification for revolution.

If the excerpt talks about rights people are born with, pick natural rights. If it talks about where government's power comes from, pick popular sovereignty.

Applying natural rights when a law collides with a rights claim

In a Concept Application question or a scenario-based multiple-choice item, you might see a law that people say violates their natural rights. For example, a state requires residents to serve in a militia or pay a defense tax. A strong answer doesn't just say "that violates natural rights." It explains how the system handles the tension.

Under the social contract, people give up some freedoms so government can keep order and provide defense. Limited government sets the boundary: government can make those demands, but it can't hold absolute power, so the law still has to stay within constitutional limits, which courts can enforce.

This is also where Topic 1.9, Federalism in Action, comes in. Because power is divided between national and state governments, a person has more than one place to push back. They might challenge the law in state court, or in federal court if there's a basis for federal jurisdiction. They could also seek a change in policy through the state legislature or, where Congress has constitutional authority, through federal legislation.

What a top Argument Essay paragraph on natural rights includes

The Declaration of Independence is a required foundational document, so natural rights gives you ready-made evidence for Question 4, the Argument Essay. A strong paragraph usually follows this order. First, define natural rights in one sentence. Second, quote or paraphrase the Declaration's "unalienable Rights" line. Third, explain the reasoning: because people hold rights before government exists, government's power is limited to protecting them.

That reasoning links naturally to limited government and to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights gives constitutional protection to some rights associated with natural-rights ideas. The Fifth Amendment says the federal government may not deprive a person of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," a phrase that resembles Locke's account of rights. The Ninth Amendment says listing some rights doesn't deny others "retained by the people."

For the rebuttal, you can raise Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes saw the state of nature as violent chaos and thought people should hand broad power to a strong ruler. You can answer that the Declaration's view, closer to Locke's, keeps rights with the people and makes government accountable to them.

Natural rights versus civil liberties, and Locke versus Hobbes

One easy mix-up is treating natural rights and civil liberties as the same thing. Natural rights exist before any law does. Civil liberties are the legal protections written into the Constitution and Bill of Rights and enforced by courts. The Declaration asserts natural rights, and the Bill of Rights protects some of them in law.

A second error is choosing popular sovereignty for any Declaration quote. Popular sovereignty is about consent as the source of power, and natural rights is about what people hold no matter who's in charge. Third, don't credit Hobbes with "life, liberty, and property." That's Locke.