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4) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and American Bills of Rights
4) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and American Bills of Rights
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After deciding to secede from Great Britain, members of Virginia’s fifth Revolutionary Convention voted unanimously to pass a resolution to prepare for a new constitution and government for Virginia, as well as a statement of rights. This convention took place at a time when British attempts to tax and strictly regulate the thirteen colonies generated resistance a growing desire for political independence. The delegates at the congress wanted to regain the civil liberties that they had lost under British rule, so a committee chaired by George Mason was enlisted to create a document that would guarantee to citizens of Virginia enumerated civil liberties. Since the document promotes civil liberties and restrictions on the power of governments, …show more content…
the Virginia Declaration of Rights inspired the United States` current governing documents such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. As a result, the Virginia Declaration of Rights remains relevant today since it promotes democratic principles used not only in the United States but also the world. Section 12 of the Virginia Declaration of rights guarantees “the freedom of the press” since it is “one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by a despotic government”. Protected under the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, freedom of the press is essential to a democracy since it allows for people to have the information they need in order to make informed decisions about their government. Freedom of the press is imperative since it protects journalists who attempt to spread information, even if it counteracts the government. This freedom, for example, allowed two journalist of Washington Post, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, uncover information suggesting that knowledge of the break-in of the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the upper reaches of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and the White House. The journalists found that the incident was only a small part of a secret initiative devised by the President Nixon re-election campaign to undermine his political opponents. The Watergate scandal became a catalyst which led Nixon to resign in order to avoid being impeached. In bringing misdeeds and crimes to light, the journalists safeguarded and revitalized our democratic process. Inspired by Enlightenment writer John Locke, the Virginia Declaration of Rights states that "all power…derived from, the people...” and "whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it...".
In other words, the right of revolution whether peaceful of violent allows for people to overthrow a government that acts against the common interest. This right safeguards democratic principle against despotic, tyrannical governments. In the mid 1950`s ,for example, the Dominican Republic was ruled dictatorially by Rafael Leonid as Trujillo Molina who referred to himself as the Savior of Mankind and Son of God. During his 30 years in power, it is estimated that Trujillo was responsible for the death of more than 50,000 Dominicans. Brutal oppression and unjust massacres such as the Parsley Massacre became key features of Trujillo`s rule. As a result, Dominicans, tired of being oppressed, with the assistance of the CIA ambushed the dictator, assassinating him. With the assistance from the United States, in the period after Trujillo`s death, the Dominican Republic eventually became a democratic republic. Since the people were dissatisfied with Trujillo`s neopatrimonialism rule which inhibited the consolidation of democracy in the Dominican Republic, the citizens took action and overthrew the Trujillo
dictatorship. The Virginia Declaration of Rights was designed to guarantee God-given rights and limit arbitrary power of the government in a time where the colonists were weary of British attempts of strict regulation. The document has since had an endless influence on other legal documents. Many of its provisions have been used in the constitution of other states, and Thomas Jefferson who helped the French draft their Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen translated many of Declaration of Right`s provisions into the document. From France, many of the rights outline in the Declaration of Rights have made their way into the charters of sever francophone countries, and eventually into the United Nations’ version. The Virginia Declaration of Rights has endlessly contributed to the American constitutional tradition of individual rights
In the early 1930’s, the Dominican Republic elected a new president by the name of Rafael Trujillo. Rafael Trujillo was a ruthless and selfish dictator even before he won the election. To win the election, he used his connections to kill supporters of the opposing candidates. Rafael Trujillo used his powers to oppress and murder masses of people (2 ”Rafael Trujillo”). Even though he was initially seen as a beneficial leader, Rafael Trujillo was proven to be an evil dictator.
After it was written, 56 delegates coming from all of the 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in order to make it official. This document served great justice during the Atlantic Revolution; it sought to make a difference as to how the colonies were in terms of their alliance with Britain. The Atlantic Revolution was able to make this happen, for it opened up the space for change. Through the document, we can see how the colonies determined to separate themselves from the British Empire. Some things to pay attention to in the writing is that they mentioned things like “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 goal of this statement is to make sure that even though the men make up the government and the people must be okay with them, at the end of the day the people have the right to make sure that their government is not being destructive and is aiming towards their rights. The Atlantic Revolution brought forth new ideas of government and the liberation of the colonies from the
Throughout the American Revolution, the colonists were completely resentful towards their British 'king'. They yearned for their own government, and to finally set themselves apart from George III's rule and his legislation. When the Articles of Confederation were mandated, the expectation was to provide the colonies with a stable government. The Articles were then replaced by the Constitution, which had corresponding values. Essentially the document was written to salvage and improve the new government. The Constitution did many positive things for the nation, and was the perfect remedy for the failures of of the Articles. However, it is manifest that the authors of the document were not as honorable as they may have been assumed to be. How they drafted the document and the bias they have put into it is still greatly effects us. The Constitution is a counter-revolution because it contradicts the fails of the Articles, and is evident that some authors had more self-beneficial and narrow mindsets.
A short speech from a politician during the Civil Rights era is “For the Equal Rights Amendment”, delivered by Shirley Chisholm. In this speech, Chisholm uses ethos, pathos, and logos to argue her point of equal rights. An example of ethos that could be found in the speech is when Chisholm says “The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers -- a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.” This would serve as an example of ethos because Chisholm is showing creditably by mentioning why the Constitution was wrote. Additionally, she challenges what the
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina is without a doubt one of the most known figures within the Dominican history. The “Era de Trujillo” (The Trujillo Era) occupied the Dominican Republic for the long period of thirty-one years. His dictatorship started in 1930 and ended with his assassination on May 30, 1961. Trujillo’s Career began with the occupation of the United States in 1916. During this time he was trained in a military school, and became part of the National Police, a military group made by the Unites States to maintain order in the Dominican Republic . Trujillo stood out during his military career and rapidly ascended within the military ranges. Under the government of Horatio Vasquez Trujillo received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was put in charge of chiefs and assistant commanders of the National Police . This new position gave him the opportunity to be part of the overthrowing of Horatio Vasquez. Trujillo was sworn into presidency on August 16, 1930. Marking the beginning of what is known as the cruel, violent and controversial part of history in the Dominican Republic.
In May of 1776 a resolution was passed at the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg that asked the thirteen American colonies to declare the United Colonies free and independent from the British crown. At the second continental congress the resolution passed and on June 11, 1776 a five-man committee led by Thomas Jefferson was established to write the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776 the members of the second continental congress signed into existence one of the most influential documents in history.
According to Thomas Jefferson, all men are created equal with certain unalienable rights. Unalienable rights are rights given to the people by their Creator rather than by government. These rights are inseparable from us and can’t be altered, denied, nullified or taken away by any government, except in extremely rare circumstances in which the government can take action against a particular right as long as it is in favor of the people’s safety. The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America mentions three examples of unalienable rights: “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. I believe these rights, since they are acquired by every human being from the day they are conceived, should always be respected, but being realistic, most of the time, the government intervenes and either diminishes or
James Madison, a delegate and one of the main supporters of a stronger national authority, had thought ahead and drew up the Virginia Plan before the convention in Philadelphia began. Thus, it became the first discussion of the committee (Roche 19).
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were authored in secret by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in response to the repressive Alien and Sedition Acts passed in 1798. In the opinion of Jefferson and Madison, the Acts were unjust. They also represented a major victory for the Federalists. By writing the Resolutions, Jefferson and Madison spearheaded the protests of those against the Alien and Sedition Acts and those in support of stronger states’ rights. Although the Resolutions were successful in the two originating states, they did not have much success in the other states. Still, the new ideas presented in the Resolutions were almost revolutionary. Although the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799 were not very successful, they were important because they provided necessary arguments for the supporters of greater states’ rights against the proponents of a stronger central government.
Throughout history, only a few documents have changed the way we as a nation view politics and carry out our everyday lives. The document mentioned above was the Declaration of Independence. It changed the course of history because it granted America its freedom from Great Britain. Originally, there was a committee created to compose the document which consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson. After conversing with one another, the committee decided that Thomas Jefferson would be the one to write it with the final approval coming from the other four. After writing it and receiving approval from the committee, Jefferson presented it to the House. What happened here was not what the committee originally expected. Not all of the delegates attending the convention approved the document. However, through compromising for the greater good of the “New Nation” and editing to accommodate everyone’s preferences, the document was finally approved by all thirteen colonies.
Firstly, the Fairfax Resolves 1774 was a document of resolutions produced by George Washington, George Mason and Patrick Henery and other influential Virginians in the South rejecting the British Parliaments claim of authority over all the colonies. This document consisted of their grievances on taxation, representation, judicial power, military matters and the colonial economy. These resolves aimed to give America the same equal rights and Britain ‘Is the fundamental principle of the people’s being governed by no laws to which they have not given their consent, by representatives freely chosen by themselves’
Since the advent of human government, one of the principle fears held by the constituents of the government has always been to prevent any form of tyranny or abuse within it. Tyranny can be loosely described as one person or a group of people having total power in a government leading to the subjugation and oppression of people’s rights. Many new nations wish to eliminate any aspect of their government that may eventually lead to tyranny. The United States was no different in this respect; the framers of the Constitution longed to have no signs of tyranny in their government because they had gone to war with Britain for that very reason. In 1787, a group of fifty-five delegates came from throughout the states to meet in Philadelphia to discuss the problems with the current government. The existing Articles of Confederation posed a monumental problem for these individuals; they recognized that the central government was almost entirely powerless under these articles. Besides this, another problem was that the government lacked a court system or a chief executive. The central government did not possess the power to tax the states either. These problems warranted change which prompted these men to get together. This new constitution they were to create was supposed to guard the people against all kinds of tyranny whether it be of a few, the many or majority, or even a single individual. This seemed virtually insurmountable a task to accomplish but was ultimately achieved. The Constitution guards against tyranny by having a central and state government that cannot overrule or have more power over the other, establishing the separation of powers to keep anyone from abusing it, and having a sys...
The American colonies assertion for freedom from the English rule officially began with the Declaration of Independence. In the monumental document the founding fathers state their grievances with the English policies, and most importantly make a promise to the American people of maintaining a fair constitutional republic based in pluralism in which sovereignty lies with the citizens. The follow through to the promises made by the Declaration of Independence is the United States Constitution. The Constitution set into official law the equality of American citizens, created a network of checks and balances, relying on an informed populace to preserve the republican system of government, and the secure establishment of a federal model, resulting from the prior events, conflicts, and compromises that necessitate the existence of the Constitution as well as being inherent in it’s writing and ratification.
The document Declaration of Independence signed July 4, the year 1776 and written by one of the country’s ancestors Thomas Jefferson. It was a time in history that declared independence a manuscript written for this occasion which introduces five separate sections that include the introduction which states it is vital to take action on Britain for the colonies.
In the Virginian declaration, there is a constant emphasis on the rights of the people in society which includes the rights of fair trials, the freedom of press, and most importantly, their right to select their leaders of government.This document helps to remind the people of today to remember their role of choosing their representatives properly because the government run by those selected individuals. If the people pick poorly, then the government will suffer. If the people pick valid candidates, then the country will forever