We’re losing the concept of natural rights

The following are the notes I took from a Hillsdale College lecture titled Natural Rights and the American Revolution.

The British needed the colonists to fight the French. Once the French and Indian War was won, the British government didn’t have to treat the colonists so politely anymore. “We’ve been defending you. Now pay taxes and show your allegiance.” The Americans, likewise, thought, “Now that the French are gone, we don’t need the British as much.” The mutually beneficial relationship was no longer mutually beneficial. The British were not going to push the colonists around anymore. But it was more than just a desire not to be dominated. The colonists felt they had a right to be free and to self-government. The British disagreed because the colonies were a part of the British Empire. The colonists believed that natural rights existed for all people everywhere at all times. They were not just fighting for themselves but for the principles of the laws of nature and nature’s God. They were fighting for something bigger than themselves as much as for themselves. These ideas had been around for about 60 years before the American Revolution.

“All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring…