Preservation Of Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness

It’s said that the purpose of the government is to “Ensure the proper use of force...” and to “Protect the individual rights of its citizens…”, but that’s not what is really happening. In fact, it is quite the opposite, our rights list: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. With a government intact it is only enabling us to be truly free, we cannot excel in a world that is constantly at watch over our shoulders. Nor can we accomplish the wants of our hearts if we aren’t truly happy in knowing that we are under control of a government. It is also a right to live and it is sad to say that we are even being denied life itself. Where is the same assuring protection for African Americans, where is the equal protection on citizens there? That being said, isn’t there already no government, if it isn’t doing its job why have such a high labeling title. There is no justice being done to the justice system at all if nothing is ever being done about all the wrong doings. There are crimes everywhere that are not being stopped and there are people dying for no explanatory reasons. In The Portable Abraham Lincoln, written by Andrew Delbanco, Abraham is quoted “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable

Government was created, and has always been, to enforce law and order. “Governments almost certainly originated with the need to protect people from conflicts and to provide law and order” (Purposes, 2016, par. 2). Without government, the people would fall into disorder and chaos, causing unhappiness and hardship throughout the nation they live in; it would be anarchy. Constitutional governments not only protect citizens from foreign threats, but also domestic threats from within. In America, a citizen’s freedoms extend as far as they want until they infringe upon the rights of another citizen. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are only some of the many rights promised to the American people. These rights are set forth by a well-

The United States and its people are governed by the central force of the government. However, even though the government has been around for centuries, there are those that are still arguing about the purpose of the government. These people include presidents, senators, newscasters, and even the regular people of the United States. The Great man and second president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson once states, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” Through the quote, it can be found that Thomas Jefferson believed the purpose of the government is to protect the lives of the people and ensure their happiness. Thomas Jefferson was right when saying that one of the purposes of government is to protect the people, however, protecting the people isn’t all the government does. The purpose of government is to ensure the protection of the people, their rights, and to establish justice for those who need it.

Happiness is an essential goal for most people. From books and expensive classes that teach people how to achieve happiness to the fundamental right of “the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, the importance of happiness is evident in society. This causes the rise to two fundamental questions: “How does one attain happiness?” and “,How does happiness create a meaningful life?” Both happiness and living a meaningful life are achieved simultaneously. The search for happiness and the factors that make it brings meaning to life. Happiness can stem from several factors such as wisdom and knowledge, savoring life and its experiences, and even suffering and pain. Analyzing these factors brings meaning to one’s life.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are the three rights granted to every American, however, this did not seem to apply to the poor during the Gilded Age. The poor lacked opportunities to climb the ladder of social class to escape poverty, and the wealth of America was so concentrated in an individual few that one man, J.P. Morgan, was able to end the Financial Panic of 1893, preventing an economic depression. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The disparity between the wealthy and those facing poverty was ever growing, which makes one question, what should be done, if anything at all? This was a major problem during the time and was the topic of many debates. Figures like William Graham Sumner,

Life… Liberty… and the pursuit of happiness. The 3 things that we, as Americans all share, and that itself, cannot be taken away from us, unalienable rights, as you would put it. But, what are these things, and what do they mean. Today, I will go in depth of what they actually are.

The Course of human events has once again arrived at a time when consideration must be given by the people to dissolving the political bonds connecting them with another, and to again assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Natural Laws entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that the people should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The United States, one of the most powerful nations in the world, was founded less than two hundred and fifty years ago. Since 1776, the year when the thirteen original colonies ratified the Constitution, three cornerstone ideas have been the drivers of the country’s progress-- Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. Found in the Declaration of Independence, which was written by Thomas Jefferson, these three concepts have been crucial in the lives of all Americans throughout the existence of this nation. Liberty, which includes personal and economic freedom, was the main reason why the colonies decided to break away from the United Kingdom in the eighteenth century. The U.S. went through many economic booms, various recessions, and several major economic depressions throughout its history. Yet, here it is, mostly unscathed and in full glory, still dominating the world stage in economic and foreign affairs. However, in the past two-three decades, the economic conditions have changed adversely, especially for the younger generations. It is an undeniable fact that the consumer and labor markets have undergone tremendous adjustments, partly due to people’s changing lifestyles, as well as globalization. According to Janet Yellen , the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman’s, statement to Congress, the “[country’s] financial conditions have worsened” and the United States economy has become “less supportive of growth” in recent years (Web). The combination of these various factors and

As stated in the first sentence of the second paragraph in The Declaration of Independence: “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.” Many groups of Americans such as African Americans, Native Americans, and women have been denied the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – which is why the phrase “all men are created equal” is a phrase that has been used loosely, as it was often contradicted throughout history. Liberty is the power to freely do and chose what one wants to do. As mentioned before women, Native Americans and African Americans have been denied the right of liberty; they were not allowed to do as they please, and most of the time their actions were forced (against their will). Of these three groups of Americans, the history of African Americans has disproved the phrase “all men are created equal.”

A man that goes by the name of “Paul Ryan” once stated, “We believe, as our founders did, that ‘the pursuit of happiness’ depends upon individual liberty; and individual liberty requires limited government’”. In fact, at the Constitutional Convention, in order to protect against giving the central government too much power, the delegates added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution in which these individual liberties are as stated in it . The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution that guarantees legal and civil rights of the citizens. The Founders had high hopes of these individual liberties that were promised to the people. However, the government, which was supposed to have a limited power or say in this, has been attempting to compromise these liberties with sugar coated words such as they are doing this in the name of security or general welfare for the people by taking advantage of our desire for security.

Since the inception of the United States, the government has had one definitive purpose: to protect the people’s rights to life,

Thomas Jefferson claimed the proper role of Government is to secure the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of its citizens.

In the United States, citizens have rights, and the United States Constitution guarantees these rights. The Bill of Rights states the basic liberties of the people of this nation in the first ten amendments in the U.S. Constitution. However, these liberties can be met with denied liberty, while sacrificing freedom, as people live in fear threatened by racism, religious beliefs, police brutality, invasion of privacy, and the horrific terrorism acts on United States soil.

Ever since the beginning of the “Land of the free and home of the brave”, America has held itself to a certain cluster of standards. The framework done by our founding fathers was not to form a country that would please the people in the beginning, but to be able to survive and thrive in the new upcoming and technological advancing world. Those standards that were so brilliantly written into the nation’s Declaration of Independence claimed that everyone was entitled to “certain unalienable rights” and these rights included “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (Jefferson). Today the American government has the job of living up to the standards it set in the declaration, but also the organization of how government

Liberty, equality and justice. Those three words are the values the United States was founded on. Over time the United States has struggled to abide by these values. However they try to promote them in schools, in court and in work. An African American and women do not have the same treatment as a Caucasian. In 1955, there was a trial for the murder of Emmett Till. The United States highlights these values but, fail to follow through with them.