America at 250, Episode 4: Natural Law and Natural Rights with Dr. Hadley Arkes

The purpose of the Declaration of Independence, wrote Thomas Jefferson, was “to place before mankind the common sense of the subject; [in] terms so plain and firm, as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we [were] compelled to take.”

To make their case they called on “the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” on a Creator who endows humans with “inalienable rights” including the right to abolish a tyrannical government and replace it.

Natural law and natural rights were central to the founders’ thinking and I know of no one more qualified to help us understand why that’s true than Dr. Hadley Arkes.