DBQ Essay: My Rights As A Citizen

John Locke’s stance on government provided an influential role on the founding of America. His stances on government prompted a restructuring and reorganization of government. John Locke argued that people have rights such as life, liberty, and property. These rights became known as unalienable rights, which were eventually incorporated into Bill of Rights under the fifth amendment, “no person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property” (3). In reference to the ideas of the enlightenment, it paralleled ideas dealing with human rights, liberty, and powers of the government. In regards to the powers of the

John Locke argued that people should have the right as an individual to create a good government. “Men are naturally in, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit within the bounds of the law of nature…” (Doc A). Humans are

What are my rights as citizen, and what form of government best protects those rights? I am going to be talking about what I believe is the best form of government that protects my rights, and what are my rights as a citizen.

My rights as an American citizen should be the right to freedom of speech, and that all men are equal. Thomas Jefferson, in The Declaration of Independence, said “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their

My rights as a citizen is that nobody harms it. “All men are naturally born in a state of perfect freedom, equal and independent to act how they want to.” (John Locke, Doc A) Everyone should be treated like they want to be treated. Also from the Declaration of Independence “We hold

We must first determine what is being said in the constitution when they 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.” Analyzing this we can see that Locke was stating that everyone is equal, and is born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. These rights are given to us by God and can never be taken or even given away by any force,

Which was also reflected when Jefferson says, ‘’Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it’’ (104). This means that people have the right or the responsibility a government that is tyrannical. The English Bill of Rights lays down the limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out rights of the parliament including freedom of election, freedom of speech, the requirement to regular elections to Parliament, the right to petition in the monarch without fear of retribution which reflects John Locke’s ‘’Second Treatise of Civil Government’’. John Locke argued that government legitimacy is based on the consent of the governed and on a responsibility to protect natural rights. John argues, “The great and chief end, therefore, of mens uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the preservation of their Property’’ ( 93).

These rights are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights came from the ideals of John Locke who stated in the second treatise of government that everyone had the right to life, liberty, and the ability to own property. People are guaranteed these rights and these ideals cannot be impeded on. Moreover it gives people a way to live their lives. The ideal is best shown in the words of Andrew Sullivan when he states “I believe in the pursuit of happiness. Not its attainment, nor its final definition, but it persuit” (Document

John Locke believed that all people had the same natural rights of life, liberty, and property. As John Locke said, “...the power of the society or legislative constituted by them can never be supposed to extend farther than the common good...” (Two Treatises of Government, 1690). Locke means that the government doesn’t have any power to impose laws onto the people unless those laws are created for the common good of the people. John Locke also said that “...the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this branch of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends...”

This idea comes almost directly from Locke's ideas that the state exists to preserve the rights of it's citizens and that the citizen's have the right to break up the government if it is not doing so. This argument is in shown chapter thirteen, section 149, of The Second Treatise of Government where Locke says that even after forming a government, "there remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them…and thus the community perpetually retains a supreme power of saving themselves from the attempts and designs of anybody,…[who would] carry on designs against the liberties and properties of the subject." Locke also acknowledges that the executive branch which enforces the laws and therefore includes the police and military could turn that force against the people and their elected representatives, the legislature. Locke says that would constitute a state of war with the people who have a right to reinstate their legislature. Jefferson used this idea in particular to defend his move to dissolve ties with Britain saying that Britain had used it's military powers against the people of the Colonies and therefore a state of war with them had resulted.

Garrett Epps begins to tell a story about about driver speeds along a road over one hundred miles per hour. A police man pulls over the driver and asks him for his license and registration. However, the driver tells the police that he can not produce a license and registration because he is a child of undocumented parents, and according to Trump’s claims, those who have parents who are undocumented are not subjected to American laws. Trump argues that the fourteenth amendment’s citizenship clause does not provide birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented aliens. Section one of the fourteenth amendment tells us that “All persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state where they reside.” Epps communicates that in one of the policies of birthright of citizenship, to be born in the US gives the birthright of citizenship. However, a small fraction of the legal world, including Trump, are fighting for an improved “original intent” of the fourteenth amendment. These select few argue that undocumented aliens and their children are not subject to american laws. However, as expressed by John Yoo, “almost all aliens in the united states, even citizens of other nations, still fall within our jurisdiction while they are in our territory.” Otherwise they could commit as many crimes as they wanted without the fear of punishment.

I am going to explain the following rights that i liked because i didnt know them here they are Privacy rights, Mobility rights, Disability rights and Equality rights. Privacy rigths are rights that limit the ability of others

To understand their views on revolt, and when it is justified, one must first review the responsibilities each believes the government to have. To Locke, the government works to preserve innate rights, that is, rights

In the wake of political turmoil in England, Locke asserted the right of a people to change a government that did not protect natural rights of life, liberty and property. [8]

For Locke, It becomes increasingly difficult to defend the natural right due to the possibility of the state of war. In order to preserve the right, the people would also have to come together to form a social contract. They would then establish a state, whose job would be to PRESERVE the right, and to punish those who seek to attack it. The state will then decide upon a neutral judge. John Locke argues that the government’s only job is to act as an fair mediator of self-defense. This way the power of the state comes from consent and delegation of the governed. The government is limited by its people’s natural right and cannot overstep its bounds. Since the law of nature states that a person cannot violate another’s natural right, the same mentality must be kept by the government, or sovereign. If the sovereign fails to preserve or