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The concept of natural rights originated in the 18th century, the time
of the Enlightenment.  The Founding Fathers were religious men,
although they tended toward Deism, rather than some more specific
doctrines.  Their writing clearly indicates that "natural rights"
emanate from the Creator of the Universe, not from any government or
superior earthly figure.  To be sure, some of this thinking was a
result of reaction against such figures as those Stuart kings who
believed in the "divine right of kings," as well as against abuses and
oppressions dating back to the time of the Magna Carta and even
earlier in English history.  Many references are made in the writings
of the Revolutionary War period to the "time-honored rights of
Englishmen."  That they were not always ready to grant these rights to
others than the English (e.g., slavery, the Indian Raj, etc.) is not a
sufficient argument to undermine the concept itself.
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