On this July 4th holiday, it is fitting to remember that the Declaration of Independence was based on many “natural laws” that the Founders considered all humans to be born with; that is, they were rights that governments had to recognize and could neither be granted nor taken away. Many of these natural rights were later enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. See, e.g., the right to liberty and self-defense which the U.S. Supreme Court recently reminded us was a basic right that animated the related right to bear arms as embodied in the Second Amendment.  Professor Randy Barnett provides a legal annotation of the Declaration of Independence that provides scholarly insights on the natural rights referenced in the document that marks the birth of our nation.