&quot;Natural rights&quot; influence the Constitution (especially insofar as they influenced English Common Law, which is an even more powerful influence on the Constitution).<p>But it&#x27;s very hard to argue that they <i>control</i>, because &quot;natural rights&quot; mean different things to different people.<p><i>(It is also the case that purported natural rights are frequently in tension with each other; there&#x27;s no &quot;natural tiebreaker&quot; between &quot;natural rights&quot;, which makes it hard to rely on them to resolve controversies.)</i><p>If you want to make an argument that the Constitution must implicitly protect some particular natural right not expressed in the text, it&#x27;s helpful to be specific. Often, it&#x27;s straightforward to infer the intent of the framers from their actions immediately after ratification.