The Unalienable Rights Of A More Perfect Union

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.

Anti-Federalism, an 18th century political movement led primarily by Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, opposed the ratification of the new United States Constitution for multiple reasons. [B] The new U.S. Constitution was written by a group of delegates selected for the 1787 Constitutional Convention which took place in Philadelphia. A chief reason Anti-Federalists were highly concerned with this document was the amount of power it would give the federal government. They worried that the implementation of a strong centralized government could only be possible at the expense of individual states rights and freedoms. Anti-Federalists were also concerned that smaller states, who had previously held as much weight in national affairs as larger states, may be ignored or trampled upon in regards to passing interstate laws and amending federal documents. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists was the absence of a Bill of Rights, a specific list of personal rights possessed by American citizens, in the Constitution. They feared that without this bill of stated rights, there would be no guarantee that the American government, under the Constitution, would not pass tyrannical laws resembling those implemented by the British just prior to the American Revolution. [A]

During the Revolutionary War, colonists believed that they needed a sense of unified government, so this led to the creation of the Articles of Confederation, the first written constitution of the United States (history.com). Although the Articles of Confederation had its strengths, such as allowing the central government to create treaties and maintain military, it had many weaknesses, such as preventing the central government to levy taxes and regulate trade. It also could not be changed unless there was a unanimous decision and it lacked a stable currency. Since the creation of the Articles of Confederation had many issues and weaknesses, the Continental Congress rewrote the Articles into what is now known as the U.S Constitution. The Constitution established a national government, guaranteed basic rights for the colonists and revised almost everything that was wrong in the original Articles, such as the sovereignty that resided primarily in the states and the lack of power from the national government. The Constitution was later ratified by all 13 states in May 1790, with the support of the Federalist Party. [A] Federalists believed in the commitment to a strong national government and in the practice of a separation of powers. However, Anti-Federalists had the opposite view which was the opposition of a strong national government, the support for small landowners, and the representation of rights of the people. Anti-Federalists believed that a strong national government

The Articles of Confederation were ineffective in allowing for government of the United States to act as a unified country. The Articles of Confederation, came up short in many respects and treated each state as a separate country, instead of member of a unified country. For this reasons many felt it was important to write a new constitution. Many citizens were opposed to a new constitution because they felt that it would give the new government too much power over the people and they would lose their freedoms. Some people also felt that it would lead to a government that resembled a monarchy, which is exactly what the new union had fought against. However, many felt that by not giving the federal government enough power, The Articles of Confederation, afforded too much freedom to the people and they argued this could breed turmoil. Shays’ Rebellion, many argued was an example of this excess power of the people. Madison believed that an excess of liberty could be a threat to itself. As he explains, “liberty…may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power.” In 1788, the book The Federalist, a collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, was completed. The essays in The Federalist were written to gain support for the ratification of a new constitution to replace The Articles of Confederation. The essay, The Federalist No. 51, Madison explains how the rights of the people will be ensured by a system based on the

In doing so, he proposes that the government should regulate the interest of society so faction is not easily formed. Regulation should be the legislature’s principal task in creating a more united society. Without focus on principal tasks, Madison describes how chaotic the faction can become. To prevent this, the government should be an empowered body of people, who come together to make and change laws. No one person should have to the power to judge their own opinions. Giving a person the power of judging themselves can cause many bias, and therefore being inactive.

In the year 1787 a fierce debate over the ratification of the Constitution took place in the United States. The young nation suffered from a government too weak to handle its problems but with citizens wary and skeptical of strong, central governments. This is where the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists took place, the debate that would set American ideals into stone with the ratification of the Constitution and the later-added Bill of Rights. The Federalists believed in a stronger central government to help overcome the struggles the fledgling nation faced while the Anti-federalists believed that the Constitution did not do enough to secure the rights of the people from a tyranny not unlike that of King George’s. Throughout this

During the time period in which the Constitution was crafted, in 1787, there were two different types of people, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists were people who were in favor of the United States Constitution and supported its ratification; they also believed in a strong central government. Key Federalists included Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Washington. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists were people who opposed the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and did not like the idea of a strong central government. Some important Anti-Federalists included John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, and Richard Henry Lee. In the following paper I will be discussing the different views of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists when it comes to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and will be analyzing specific civil liberties and discussing the pros and cons of them.

One of the main reasons was because the Constitution lets the government receive more authority and power on the states. The protesters were called the Anti-federalists, while the supporters of the Constitution were known as the Federalists. Anti-federalist were worried about their individual rights and state’s authority getting taken away, because the government is growing stronger. Few of the well known Anti-federalists included Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Quincy Adams, and George Mason. They believed that the Constitution would increase taxes and show more consideration for the upper-class and neglect the common people. Therefore, the Constitution compromised and made the Bill of Rights, stating all the natural rights of the people and made sure they were protected. The Federalists included powerful people like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The latter three wrote essays that are now published as a book called The Federalist Papers, under the joint pseudonym Publius. The Federalists were in favor for the government to hold more power as they believed it would make the country grow

One thing that the Anti-Federalists were adamant about was the creation of a Bill of Rights, as to make sure that the rights of the people were preserved. “Their magna charta and bill of rights have long been the boast, as well as the security, of that nation. I need say no more, I presume, to an American, than, that this principle is a fundamental one, in all the constitutions of our own states; there is not one of them but what is either founded on a declaration or bill of rights, or has certain express reservation of rights interwoven in the body of them. From this it appears, that at a time when the pulse of liberty beat high and when an appeal was made to the people to form constitutions for the government of themselves, it was their universal sense, that such declarations should make a part of their frames of government. It is therefore the more astonishing, that this grand security, to the rights of the people,

“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is one of the most well-known phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three words are the unalienable rights of man in the United States of America. If the government violates these rights, it is the American’s duty to overthrow the government. The ideas of these rights has slowly evolved over the time period since the Declaration of Independence was written. In the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, the concept of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is drastically different in contrast to the modern version of the ideas.

“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.

The Federalists emphasized that the new government would not end state autonomy. They also contemplated a Bill of Rights that would prevent the new centralized government from infringing on what were thought of as natural rights.(Schultz) The Anti-Federalists, who included many prominent patriots, preferred a weaker confederation of states and a more direct democracy. (Schultz) Federalists wanted a strong central government, while the anti-federalists were opposed to it. The Federalist Papers were written to persuade the colonists to ratify the Constitution. They were intended to build support and convince the states, mainly New York. The Anti-Federalists wrote their own version in response.

Federalism was an inevitable and paramount mechanism to creation the of the Union. Therefore, it is acceptable that its governing principles would define and refine a majority of the nation’s history. Shaping the government, laws, and politics of the current and future generations during the creation of the Constitution, federalism permanently altered the life of every American. Federalism and the Constitution were derived from a similar ideal: endurance of free society had to be preserved by a sense of unity that acted as a safeguard against prevalent dangers, advanced the common good while still maintaining responsiveness to the diversity of the nation (Wechsler, 1954). The Constitution established a central government that possessed the capacity to interpret its

This has been a principle that the United States has embodied since it became an independent nation. It was founded on the very principles that every man shall have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a nation of opportunity and hope for everyone. However, that principle has not been properly executed or fulfilled for all in the United States since its birth in the eighteenth century. Such a heavy accusation of what could be the biggest fraud in history against the seeming identity of the most powerful country and symbol for hope in the world is not one to be made lightly, but with such a heavy past and disappointing present to frustrating future, the evidence to support this claim has manifested itself in famous literature

The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure, and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect