Make a list of the rights that you think all human beings deserve to have, regardless of what country they live in.

Who protects these rights?

Government

John Locke, English philosopher(1632 -1704)

Locke said the rights that people are born with are "natural rights." He said there is an unwritten agreement between a government and its citizens: The citizens agree to obey the government as long as it protects their natural rights.

Why was this a radical idea in the 1600s?

Countries were ruled by kings, and most people assumed they had no choice but to obey the king.

"Whenever the legislators endeavor (try) to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved (excused) from any further obedience....

"Whenever the legislators shall transgress (break) this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly or corruption endeavor (try) to grasp an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit (give up) the power the people had put into their hands.“

-- John Locke, Two Treatises of Government