§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.