The Government Class Book | Page 6

as the term is generally used, does not include the
right of property; personal rights include both the right of property and
the rights of person.
§5. Political rights are those which belong to the people in their
political capacity. The word political, in a general sense, relates to
government. The whole body of the people united under one
government, is called the political body, or body politic. The right of
the people to choose and establish for themselves a form of government,
or constitution, and the right to elect persons to make and execute the
laws, are political rights. The right of voting at elections is therefore a
political right.
§6. Civil rights are those which are secured to the citizens by the laws
of the state. Some make no distinction between civil rights and political
rights. In a proper sense--that in which the terms are here used--there is
this difference: political rights are those secured by the political or
fundamental law, called the constitution; civil rights are more properly
those which are secured by the civil or municipal laws. The difference
will more clearly appear from the definition elsewhere given of the

political and civil laws. (Chap. III. §5, 6.)
§7. Religious rights consist in the right of a man to make known and
maintain his religious opinions, and to worship God in that way and
manner which he believes in his conscience to be most acceptable to
his Maker. This right is called also the right of conscience. But in
exercising this right, a man may not abuse it by violating the rights of
others, or disturbing the peace and order of society.
§8. Now, although human rights are thus divided into classes and
differently defined, they are all natural rights. It is generally held in this
country as a truth, that "all men are created equal;" that is, born with
the same rights. And if men, as social and moral beings, are fitted by
nature and designed for government and laws, we conclude that their
political, civil, and religious rights, and all other rights to which they
are entitled by the law of nature, are natural rights.
§9. Liberty is the being free to exercise and enjoy our rights, and is
called natural, political, civil, or religious, according to the particular
class of rights referred to. Thus the exercise of rights guarantied by the
constitution or political law, is called political liberty. The free
enjoyment of rights secured by the civil or municipal laws, is called
civil liberty. And freedom of religious opinion and worship is called
religious liberty.
§10. Hence liberty itself is a natural right. The words right and liberty,
however, have not the same meaning. We may have a right to a thing
when we have not the liberty of using it. John has a pencil which is
justly his own; but James takes it from him by force. John's liberty to
enjoy the use of his pencil is lost, but his right to it remains. James has
no right to the use of the pencil, though he enjoys the use of it.
§11. This example serves also to explain further the use of the different
terms applied to rights and liberty. John's right to his pencil, being
guarantied to him by the laws of civil society, is a civil right. It is with
equal propriety called a natural right, because, by the law of nature, he
has a right to the use of his pencil.

Chapter III.
Laws, defined.

§1. Law has been briefly defined. (Chap. 1. §6.) As in the case of rights
and liberty, laws are distinguished by different names; as, the law of
nature, or natural law; the moral law; the law of revelation, or revealed
law; the political law; the civil or municipal law.
§2. The law of nature, is of the highest possible authority, being
established by the supreme Lawgiver himself. It is called the law of
nature, because it is right in itself--right in the nature of things, and
ought to be obeyed, though no positive command had ever been given
to men. It is a perfect rule of right for all moral and social beings. It is
that eternal rule of right to which God himself conforms.
§3. The law of nature, as a rule of human action, arises out of man's
relation to his Maker and to his fellow men. As a creature, he must be
subject to the laws of his Creator, on whom he is dependent. He is also
in a measure dependent upon his fellow beings. All being created equal,
each is bound by the principles of natural justice to render to others that
assistance which is necessary to make them as happy as himself, or
which they justly owe to him