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Essay -- The Declaration of Independence
Response -- Jefferson: Declaration of Independence
Essay -- The Declaration of Independence
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Without the founding fathers, the Unites States and current nation would not be what it is today. They contributed to the development of independence, and wrote several important documents, including “Declaration of Independence” and “Constitutions”. The founding fathers realized that a group of people is stronger than an individual self, and the importance of equal rights for all citizens to unite the whole nation. They have also established rules for government not to interfere with citizens as government wants. Unlike before, American citizens can vote now, get the job that they qualified for and have equal rights due to the rules that the founding father made for the citizens of the United States. The founding fathers united Americans, …show more content…
ensured the rights to citizens, and limited the power of federal government. The founding fathers united Americans. In the pamphlet “Common Sense”, it discusses about the importance of unity, “It is not in numbers, but in unity, that great strength lies; yet present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world” (Paine). This quote illustrates that unity is strength rather than only numbers. This quote supports the thesis statement because Thomas Paine emphasized the importance of unity to conquer against any repelling force. The book “Political Peoplehood” talked about when injustice occurred how a group of people get together and protest, “This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a ban of brethren, united to each other by the strongest of ties, should be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties” (Jay 153). This quote also illustrates the importance of unity to protest against the unfair social injustice at that time. This quote connects to the hypothesis because he inspired Americans to come together and stand against injustice. Sanding against the injustice also helped people to gain their equal rights. The founding fathers ensured rights to American citizens.
In “The declaration of Independence”, it talks about how founding father helped citizens get equal rights, “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” (“The Declaration of Independence”). This quote illustrates that people are born with same equal rights in American soil. This quote connects to hypothesis because it signified the major importance of ensuring equal rights to American citizens. In the article of 13th amendment, the founding fathers made sure that there will be no segregation in the united states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (“The Declaration of Independence”). This quote says that slavery should not be allowed in the United States, unless it is a punishment by jury for any crime act. This quote supports the hypothesis because the ban of slavery ensures rights for citizens and gives them equality to live independently. For ensuring rights, it is essential to make sure that government cannot interfere with the rights of citizens by making random
laws. The founding fathers limited the power of federal government. In first amendment, it talked about how the founding fathers restricted the power of making laws, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (“The Declaration of Independence”). This quote clarifies that congress is not allowed to make laws that will interfere with the freedom of rights, religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. This quote is connected to the hypothesis because these restrictions limited the government power. The article of the fifteenth amendment talked about how citizens has right to vote, unlike before, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (“The Declaration of Independence”). This quote demonstrates that no one can be discriminated from voting. This is related to hypothesis because this statement ensures that government can’t prevent anyone from voting because of their race. Overall, founding fathers have a crucial role in the history of the United States. They contributed in writing of many important documents such as the constitution and bill of rights. These documents help to maintain the balance of power and responsibility of government. When uniting people, founding fathers ensured rights of American citizens whether it is about voting or getting equal rights. Restricting the power of government, founding fathers limited the ability of government to change the law that might interfere with freedom, speech, religion and the rights of citizens. With their contribution, they have united citizens together to make a country of freedom and prosperity.
...anced. Governeur Morris understood that, ?Wealth tends to corrupt the mind and to nourish its love of power, and to stimulate it to oppression. History proves this to be the spirit of the opulent.? Therefore as seen with the second quote, Hofstadter is emphasizing the compromise in leaving a form of representative government as well as having a strong federal government in that ?its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.? Therefore they saw it as in their form of a small direct democracy the unstable passions of the people would dominate law making; but a representative government, as Madison stated, would ?refine and enlarge the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens.? John Adams finally pointed out in Defence of the Constitution of Government of the United States that the split in assembly would stop the rich from ?plundering the poor, and vice versa,? with an impartial executive armed with the veto power. Thus, what radiates from such actions was the achievement of neutralization.
Each member excelled in his own field and persuaded fellow colleagues and the American people for the need for a document to replace the Articles of Confederation. Ellis additionally expounded on the built-in advantages these founding fathers had. He stressed upon their strengths, such as their ability to convene with similar ideas, versatility in many fields, persuading members of the opposition, and developing tactical propositions. After the founding fathers defeated Patrick Henry, a strong adversary and a harsh critic to the Constitution, Ellis wrote, “For better and for worse, the Constitution was destined to become the law of the land” (Ellis 187). These innate built-in advantages of the founding fathers were what helped them to achieve their goals.
Slavery is the idea and practice that one person is inferior to another. What made the institution of slavery in America significantly different from previous institutions was that “slavery developed as an institution based upon race.” Slavery based upon race is what made slavery an issue within the United States, in fact, it was a race issue. In addition, “to know whether certain men possessed natural rights one had only to inquire whether they were human beings.” Slaves were not even viewed as human beings; instead, they were dehumanized and were viewed as property or animals. During this era of slavery in the New World, many African slaves would prefer to die than live a life of forced servitude to the white man. Moreover, the problem of slavery was that an African born in the United States never knew what freedom was. According to Winthrop D. Jordan, “the concept of Negro slavery there was neither borrowed from foreigners, nor extracted from books, nor invented out of whole cloth, nor extrapolated from servitude, nor generated by English reaction to Negroes as such, nor necessitated by the exigencies of the New World. Not any one of these made the Negro a slave, but all.” American colonists fought a long and bloody war for independence that both white men and black men fought together, but it only seemed to serve the white man’s independence to continue their complete dominance over the African slave. The white man must carry a heavy
The Founding Fathers were a revolutionary group, diverse in personalities and ideologies but shared the common goal of American liberty. They understood that the citizens should have a say in their government, and the government only obtains its power from the citizen’s consent. In order to avoid endless debates on issues that needed to be solved immediately, the revolutionary leaders compromised their beliefs. Joseph J. Ellis writes of the compromises that changed the constitutional debate into the creation of political parties in, The Founding Brothers. The 3 main chapters that show cased The Founding Brothers’ compromises are The Dinner, The Silence, and The Collaborators.
The Second Continental Congress was an organization that started having meetings to make decisions on where to attack the British and how to defend themselves. This foundation was created because it was during the war in Lexington and Concord, so they needed someone to help make their decisions and help decide attack methods. The Congress representatives originally met during the Revolutionary War; their first meeting being on May 10, 1775. The representatives (a person or people sent to represent something) came from 12 of the original 13 colonies.
The men who wrote the American constitution agreed with Thomas Hobbes that humans were naturally evil. Therefore, they agreed that in order to prevent a dictatorship or monarchy, the citizens should have influence in the government. The writers wanted a more ideal constitution, but they realized evil human motives would never change. One of the main goals of the constitution was to create a balanced government that would allow the citizens to prevent each other from being corrupt. The writers wanted to give citizens liberty, but they did not want to give people so much liberty that they would have an uncontrollable amount of power. The writers agreed that a citizen’s influence in government would be proportionate to that individual’s property.
The U.S Constitution is recognized as a document that secures basic rights for citizens and structures the American national government. Before the Constitution, the states had all the power and the national government was very weak. Therefore, the creation of the Constitution was necessary to grant the national government power. Even though, the Constitution was signed in 1787, there was still debate in that the Constitution gave the national government too much power. Some of the individuals whom opposed the Constitution where Patrick Henry and George Mason. Patrick Henry became the leader of the opponents, because of his strong legal and rhetoric skills. On the other hand, George Mason was a patriot during the American Revolution, whom believed in the inalienable rights of the people. These two man were important figures that argued the dangers ratifying the Constitution would bring and that the Constitution would give too much power to the national government.
It should be noted that the Declaration of Independence made it clear 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.” Although this progressive view was shared by many of the members of the Constitutional Convention, it is clear that the original text of the American Constitution is rather pro-slavery and up to a certain point protects the slave-owners. It is of utmost importance to note that the words slavery/slave are not used in the text of the Constitution.
The Founding Fathers most famous writings is without a doubt the Constitution. The constitution was an amazing piece of literature, and played a huge part in shaping America. The founding fathers wrote many different writings that also helped found the United States. These other writings expressed some very good concerns and taught some necessary values.
The Constitution is the foundation of our county it represents liberty and justice for all. We are able to live freely and do, as we desire because of the constitution. The constitution was, signed September 17, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It took time and many debates were held before an agreement was achieved in both the drafting and ratification of the constitution. These disagreements came with several compromises before the constitution was fully ratified on May 29, 1790, with Rhode Island being the last and the thirteenth. The First, challenge was the Articles of Confederation; it was a sort of a draft of the Constitution but was weak and inadequate. Second, obstacle was the Anti-Federalists fight for more
The founding Fathers consists of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe. These were the most known contributors of all the founding Fathers. Each framer has equal contribution to the development of the Constitution and the articles of Confederation. The three greatest contributors to the Constitution in the United States were the founding Fathers in the Constitution and the Articles of the Confederation. But all the ones that I put into perspective are the ones that had done the most work on it and put all the ideas they had together. All of them were well educated people and all you guys should thank the Founding Fathers for what they have done for you. Alright you have already heard about the Founding Fathers from your History teacher so I will go on to explain the thoughts they had and what they did.
Benjamin Franklin is considered to be the most well-known Founding Father, as he helped in writing the Declaration of Independence and the very first Constitution of the United States. Who was he other than a man who fought for colonist’s rights however? He was a brilliant inventor who created many innovating and life changing mechanisms such as the world’s very first almanac, bifocals, and the lightning rod. Although he was never elected the role of President of the United States, he played several other parts, such as the first postmaster general for the colonies in addition to being an ambassador to France. As a young man working for his father’s candle shop, Benjamin Franklin soon made his way up to be one of history’s greatest figures.
First the founding fathers thought the constitution might endanger freedom due to slavery in the constitution or there lack of the word. Madison had wrote about slavery and its issues which divided delegates in many gatherings and those who came together in where slave owners and those against slavery, to discuss slavery in the Constitution. That the wording of “slavery” didn’t appear in the constitution, a sensitive area delegates feared. The Constitution prohibited Congress from doing away with African slave trade for twenty years. It also, counted for a large sum of the populations when determining each states representation in the House of Representatives and electoral votes for president. There were limits on Congress’s power to tax states that had slave property. Also, there where compromises in the constitution that where slavery clauses, to try and find a balance between the slavery pro’s and con’s. Yet, this seemed to embed slavery ...
In the year 1789, was the beginning of a great country. On that year, George Washington became the first president of this nation. Washington alone has created multiple precedents that has become common practice used today. This nation has not been created alone by one man, but rather seven others. These key individuals were later identified as the Founding Fathers. There are too many things to list what each Father did, but what I can do is talk about three great members that made a memorable change in the beginning of our nation. George Washington, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton are three people who have made the most remarkable additions made to our new country. As a result, these three Founding Fathers contributed the foundation of the United States of America.
The men who founded America were men with deep religious beliefs and a firm faith in God. They based their actions and decisions on what the Bible teaches, and used God’s laws to write the laws of our nations. Benjamin Franklin once said “Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped…as to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see.” (Franklin, Founding Faith Archive). His statement was not only indicative of his beliefs, but of the beliefs of the rest of the founding fathers. They believed that a successful country was built upon principles laid out in the Bible by God, and that ultimately, the “ideal society” could be formed if everyone adhered to the guidelines established throughout the word of God. While these men were not deities that served as any sort of moral standard, they did serve as Godly influences. Their belief that the guidelines for a successful country were written in the Bible ultimately led to these men laying the foundation for one of the most dominant societies this world has ever seen.