Position Paper On Declaration Of Independence

a. Jefferson states that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable.

The Declaration of independence even states that all men have "unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness… ". Take that how you want, but I think Thomas Jefferson was trying to tell us something.

The Declaration of Independence was created with human rights in mind. In the Declaration of Independence, they explained why the colonies chose to overthrow their ruler and become independent and be separate nation in the world. Within this document there are four parts. The beginning, also known as the preamble is the most essential part. The preamble justifies the rights of the citizens of America. It reads, “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.” When Thomas Jefferson states that “all men are created equal” he means that all citizens are of equal worth and value in the eyes of god. This is basically what human rights are. The "pursuit of happiness" is allowing an

The next section suggests the basic human rights that the founding fathers believed every government should allow their subjects. "…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…."(Jefferson 428) Giving the citizens these basic rights would allow everyone the chance to achieve above their born status, and to strive for whatever might give them happiness.

The Declaration of Independence uses many of the beliefs that are central to Locke’s Two Treaties of Government, which are all still very important to us today. Beliefs such as all people are equal, their natural rights, and the government’s role in its citizens lives was the foundation to building the United States the world knows today. The focal points in their two documents are almost exactly the same; Locke emphasizes people’s natural rights in the statement “that being all equal and independent, no one ought to hurt ones life, liberty, or property", while Jefferson highlights them by saying “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." It is commonly speculated that Jefferson’s first draft of Declaration of Independence actually copied Locke verbatim by saying “life, liberty, and property”, rather than “pursuit of happiness”. While this has never been proven, it shows how Jefferson utilized Locke’s ideas.

Finally, Jefferson states that everybody is entitled to the pursuit of happiness. It is important to note that the colonists took care in not just saying that every man has the right to happiness, but more specifically the pursuit of it. To Jefferson, this meant that when our government is doing its job right, we as a people are and should be able to find our own happiness in life. Today, it means the same thing. It is up to us to chase after whatever it is we desire and make it a reality. The only thing holding us back from doing so should be whatever we as individuals lack, but never our government.

CM: The striking similarity to Jefferson’s claim to “certain unalienable Rights... [of] Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is blatantly obvious; the parallels in these two pieces that guarantee these irrevocable rights are almost word for

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are our natural rights as citizens of the United States of America. Our founding fathers instilled those rights in our Declaration of Independence, so we all could enjoy our freedom of life and pursue anything that brought us happiness. But who is we? Thomas Jefferson, the author of those famous words wanted a society of freedom, but it didn’t apply to everyone in the new founded union. Thomas Jefferson viewed the African American slaves as a lesser people; they were physically and mentally inferior in comparison to all white Americans. Jefferson supported the emancipation to free the slaves, but he believed they needed to be colonized elsewhere after freedom as

Thomas Jefferson was commenting that the Bill of Rights from governmental. Both the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution had more purpose; The Bill of Rights was meant to give citizens of the U.S. promising freedom to rely on. The Constitution set terms for the U.S. to abide by. The Constitution was established for the people and was a social contract; it was an agreement between the government and society to protect the nation’s deserved rights and liberties. The Bill of Rights was included in the Constitution; it is the first ten amendments which were included to guarantee personal rights. One interesting amendment that has tested numerous times through the Supreme Court is the Eighth Amendment: no cruel or unusual punishment, it definitely changed America’s on what punishment is considered cruel and unusual.

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson expresses unalienable rights as a ideal for the US government. It has been argued on National Public Radio that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are essential to America’s government(Doc B). Citizens need to be able to depend on unalienable rights without doubt that the government can take them away because they are rights citizens are born with. Sullivan believed the government should “place(s) liberty at the center of its concerns” in order to give the people the rights they deserve. This shows that unalienable rights are very important to the U.S. government in order to give the people the rights they deserve; however, it is not the most important one to the American society.

Let me explain in this quote where Thomas Jefferson states, “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” He is talking about how equal humans are and about what rights and freedoms his creator give them. This quote proves his claim because he is trying to explain that humans have been made in the same way and that all should have the same rights. Including this quote where Thomas Jefferson states, “He has obstructed

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is a phrase nearly every American knows as being the three unalienable rights that cannot be revoked by the government. These self-evident truths first appeared in the Declaration of Independence, a document written to rid the United States from its torrid oppressors. Liberty, however, is the most important of the three, seeing as if American did not have it, residents would simply be slaves to their government and could not be truly free-thinking citizens.

On July 4, 1776, an independent and fervent nation was born. Our Founding Fathers used an overwhelming sense of integrity and determination to fabricate the Declaration of Independence - a historical document that pleads King George III for independence and stresses the importance of freedom, equality, and natural rights. Though the Declaration of Independence signifies the birth of America and represents a powerful landmark in our history, when looked at from a broad spectrum, it can be seen as arrogant, ironic, and controversial. The Declaration states, “ … 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 declaration”,

Additionally, the Declaration of Independence called for the equality of all men in society. For example, the document states that “all men are created equal.” Jefferson, however, truly meant that all free, property-owning white males are created equal. Therefore, the institution of slavery demonstrates how African American slaves were not included in this statement. In Frederick Douglass’s Rochester speech, he asked whether political freedom and natural justice embodied in the Constitution extended to African slaves. Of course the words of the document did not extend to African Americans, which is clearly depicted through the Slave Codes. Only white male landowners could truly take part in the democratic government and African slaves were perceived as property. Obviously, the ideal that all men are created equal was not true as slaves were unable to vote, own property, or bear arms. Additionally, enslaved Africans were subject to legal imbalance and if they were accused of a crime, they would almost always be put to death. Several more Slave Codes included travel restrictions, ownership of

Jefferson felt very strongly about the freedom of an individual. His idea of freedom was that the individual was independent, and not under the control of a government for example. There were two main things that Jefferson was concerned with, debt and distrust of men who were landless workers (124). With the first he felt that while under debt a man had very limited freedom of action. The landless workers he felt were very dependent. They had to work because there was no land for backup. In these times owning property was an important part of being a free man. Perhaps this led to slavery for those who did not own land. Many think slavery was always race based, but Jefferson?s position shows a different view.