Final answer:
Natural rights are considered unalienable and are not to be taken away or denied. Colonists believed they had a right to natural rights as they saw them as inherent and god-given. They defended these natural rights by asserting their right to representation and protesting against taxation without representation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Natural rights are rights that are considered unalienable and not to be taken away or denied. English philosopher John Locke believed that Life, Liberty, and Property were the most important natural rights. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson defined natural rights as Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The colonists believed they had a right to natural rights because they saw them as inherent and god-given, not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular government.
The colonists defended these natural rights by asserting their right to representation in Parliament, and protesting against taxation without representation. They believed that if their natural rights were not protected, it was their right to separate from the mother country and form a new government that would be guided by the principles of Enlightenment.