Natural rights

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/natural-rights

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the philosophical foundation?Based on the belief in inherent human dignity and moral equality
2. What is the historical influence?Crucial to the Enlightenment, American and French Revolutions, and modern constitutionalism
3. Who first talked about natural rights?Ancient Greek philosophers first thought about natural justice, and later John Locke wrote about life, liberty, and property in 1689. He said these rights come from reason.
4. Why are natural rights important?Natural rights help us see if a government is fair. They let people stand up against bad laws and show that everyone deserves dignity.

Inalienable: Unable to be taken away from or given away.
Social Contract Theory: The idea that individuals implicitly agree to surrender some freedoms for protection by the state.
Enlightenment: An 18th-century intellectual and cultural movement emphasizing reason, science, and individualism.