The Human Rights of Life, Liberty and Property Essay

The identity of a society is verified through the rights which are given to the citizens. The rights of man have been at many different standards throughout time. Often being very one sided, and at times striving for a median between the two sides. In Edmund Burke's essay Reflections on the Revolution in France Burke states that a king is in one sense a servant but in everyday situations they are above every individual. All persons under him owe him a legal agreement to serve his hopes. This essay will demonstrate why Thomas Paine's essay The Rights of Man is more convincing than Edmund Burke's through examination of a heredity government, the nature of rights and the uselessness of the monarchy.

The Bill of Rights and Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen are based on the same principles of natural rights; therefore each document is similar in protecting the people's natural rights. However, despite their similarities, their differences are apparent due to the social situations in which they were adopted. The Bill of Rights stood to protect the freedoms of each individual by establishing a democratic government. The French Revolution eliminated the hierarchy of class and established equality among men with the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. Several influences from past philosophers and documents assisted the frame work of the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Rights and Citizen.

One of the most important parts of the Declaration of Independence is its preamble, and, more specifically, certain phrases contained within the preamble. Thomas Jefferson does an excellent job of explaining why the colonies are doing the things they are doing, and is very clear in stating what he and his associates think are the “unalienable rights” of the American people. Among these are “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Probably one of the most famous lines in American history, I have chosen to focus on this phrase and what those three things might have meant to Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers as they prepared this document, as well as what they mean to us today.

David Swenson, who was born in Sweden and was a professor of University of Minnesota. He is well-known to the public for his publication of the article called “The Dignity of Human Life”, which was originally published in 1949 and currently still could be found in many philosophy books (Klemke, 2008). The article of “The dignity of Human life” contains several different valuable ideas of the subject to human life and also includes some great conclusions at the final.

The United States of America is a country priding itself on providing equal opportunity for the right of life, liberty, and property. These unalienable rights, according to the Founding Fathers, were not to be taken away or denied by the American government. Also known as a natural right, the right to life can be classified as a citizen’s right to be protected by the government from abuse or death. Property classifies the right that a citizen has for owning materialistic items and land for which can be considered private. Finally, the right of liberty presented in the Constitution for a citizen refers to many different aspects ranging from freedom of speech and expression, right to bear arms, freedom of religion, freedom against search and

Human rights can be summarized as the activities and freedoms that all human beings are entitled to enjoy and only by virtue of their humanity. These conditions are generally guaranteed in the constitution of the land. They are widely felt in the area as they are divided and not limited to political, social economic and cultural rights. Some of the main principles of human rights include the fact that they are inherent, inalienable and indivisible as well. In this relation, human rights can never be taken away from an individual whereby the enjoyment of one right should not infringe the enjoyment of other. They must all be respected and maintained.

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.

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.”

Terrorists attacks in America should not reduce or take away civil liberties because it unnecessarily increases government power, gives a false state of security, and goes against the concepts of liberty on which the United States was founded. In order to understand why these three things are important we must determine what are civil liberties.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was the product of an oppressed people who were tired of living under a government in which they had no voice. During the Ancién Regime in France, there social classes, called estates, greatly divided the people on the basis of power and wealth. The first estate being the clergy, the second nobility, and the third estate being everyone else in the country of France (“The French Revolution” 23:20). The first two estates made up 3% of the population, while the third estate made up 97%, yet the first two estates held all the power. The French government at the time was an absolute monarchy, meaning the king derived his power from god and could exercise it without other constituted bodies having a right to challenge him (Introduction: Louis XIV and French Absolutism p.205). However, France was in such a state of crises in the late 18th century that Louis XVI called together the estates general, an assembly where all three estates were represented, for the first time in one hundred years (“The French Revolution” 23:00). Robes Pierre, a representative of the third estate, insisted that the nobles and clergy begin to pay taxes, but since the first and second estate held two thirds of the vote, he was quickly dismissed. After six weeks of meeting without achieving anything for the state, the third estate representatives become silenced by the first two estates. Enraged, they move next door to a tennis court and make “The Tennis Court

The Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen are both documents written by citizens that feel oppressed by their central government. The former document announced that the thirteen American colonies would become independent states no longer under British rule. On the other hand, the latter document lists the rights that the National Assembly of France believed were being neglected by the government. The documents are unrelated, yet they both convey a similar message. Overall, the documents argue that the government does not grant the citizens essential human rights, and they demand these liberties. Despite their similitude, the documents are also different. The Declaration of Independence places a greater emphasis on freedom while the Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen prioritizes equality.

First, the document states, the people have rights and have a say in government and it cannot be taken away. Unalienable Rights, just powers of government, and consent of the governed are protected in our Constitution by Popular Sovereignty and Limited Government. First, Unalienable Rights means that the rights and liberty of the people of the United States cannot be taken away or denied: Unalienable Rights is a form of Popular Sovereignty. In The Declaration of Independence, it states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” The document had major significance to Founding Fathers, because they believed in people having rights since birth. Furthermore, the Founding Fathers understood that it was important to

France’s, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, played an integral role in the development of democracy and the pursuit of liberty throughout Europe. This document was written and introduced by General Lafayette as a result of the French Revolution. The French Constituent Assembly passed it in August of 1789. Influenced by Thomas Jefferson, the American Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers, the document reiterates the values of the French Revolution. Declaring that the rights of man should be universal and remain valid no matter the time or place. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was a very purposeful document expressing many of the ideas of the French Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of the Rights of man and Citizen is a document of French constitutional history. This declaration listed the rights of an individual, which guaranteed the rights of ¨liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”. These are the supposed rights of human nature. The purpose of the government, in this document, was to preserve these rights. The document also declared the sovereignty of the people and equality of men and includes the concept of natural rights and the social contract. It is organized into seventeen articles that state each right of man. It is said in the passage that the document greatly corresponds to the American Declaration of Independence. It also includes

The United States of America was built on the ideals set forth by our founding fathers in the Constitution of the United States of America. Such ideals are held to the highest standards in our community to this day; like our right to the freedom of speech, our right to bear arms, and the right to own property. Each of these rights are firmly stated in the Constitution, along with many other rights that citizens of the Untied States have. The ideals of our founding fathers were so profound that many other nations modeled their democracy after the Constitution put forth by the Americans. It is basic human rights that people should have the freedom of speech, religion, and press and the right to own property. And we