"...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness..." The framers of the Constitution formally indicate the importance of God-given values in the lives of every citizen in America. The most significant
While some may argue that other philosophes such as Rousseau or Montesquieu impacted the revolution the most, the enlightened thinker that influenced the French Revolution the most is John Locke. Locke’s influential teachings impacted the revolution not only directly, but indirectly as well. In Declaration of Independence, (U.S. 1776), Mr. Jefferson wrote ”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Compare this to John Locke’s “… that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions…” (Locke, The State of Nature) which is also very similar to article two of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, “2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and
The declaration affirmed that all men have equal and inalienable rights and that the purpose of government is to preserve those rights. “It listed the rights as “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." Liberty was defined as “the power to do anything that does not injure others (Declaration of Rights of Man).” The declaration guaranteed protection from arbitrary arrest and the assent of the people to taxation. It endorsed free communication of ideas, but with the provision that this freedom was subject to legal restrictions against abuse. The English Bill of Rights of 1689 was similar to the United States Constitution regarding the first eight amendments.
Similarly, when the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written, the Declaration of Independence served as the charter or the purpose document, and the U.S. Constitution served as the bylaw, or the organizational document. The Constitution “serves” the principles in the Declaration of Independence. Now that you have some background knowledge of these two documents, we can talk about the similarities between them. In the Declaration, we have these very famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”(Declaration of Independence).’’ So here in the Declaration we have a statement of core principals and beliefs. Then the Constitution in turn serves that role as in organizational document and has this statement in the beginning: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
We as citizens have the right to live life in freedom without undue harm and to pursue our dreams and goals. Jefferson believes the government needs to respect our opinion by not putting it aside and to just listen to the citizens. The citizens have the right to set up a new government so the citizens have a better political life. To achieve the happiness we desire, the need for possession would be required. Jefferson says, “We hold these truths to be self-evidence, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson, 80).
Under the Bill of Rights of our Constitution, Americans are given basic human rights which cannot be taken away. The first amendment protects people’s right to freedom of speech, press,
However, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it”. (Preamble of the Declaration of Independence). Thoreau also had a side to his argument that sometimes people must take their liberation into their own hands and must utilize their right to peaceful protest. Thus justifying (and explaining) Thoreau’s not-so-subtle hint at civil disobedience, which the reader would be wise to notice, was the avenue that Mr. Thoreau himself chose to explore.
By combining the doctrines of government by consent and constitutionalism, modern liberals have found a way of reconciling effective government with the right and freedoms of both the individual and intermediate groups. This effects the policies of the other mainstream parties as it provides a more secure relationship within society leading the other parties to follow this. Classical liberals are largely inspired by the philosophy of John Stuart mill. Mill described the scope of liberty as “absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific moral or theological….” Mill believed that freedom would maximise human progress by promoting innovations, creativity and self-fulfilment. This shows that Mill saw humans as creative individuals thus leading to an interest of tolerance as a political virtue i.e.
Independence As a human being in this world there are certain rights that can not and should not be taken from us. Jefferson defines those rights of a citizen as “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”(Jefferson 78). When those freedoms are threatened we wont just watch them be taken from us we will stand together and fight for the rights god has given us. Jefferson was someone who saw that we needed to break away from the crown to secure our rights as a free nation. One example Jefferson gives to prove this is “He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation
Censorship: Death of the United States Our country was built on the ideals of freedom, in our Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson himself penned “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (qtd. in Ushistory.org) This idea of rights and freedoms were what formed the Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Freedoms in the Bill of Rights, just to name a few, are freedom of religion, freedom to petition, the freedom to peacefully assemble. The freedom of speech; this freedom seems simple enough at first, but it is probably the most debated of all the other freedoms. Censorship, in my opinion, is the poison to the freedom of speech, with censorship around, that freedom will die.