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Us history essay on equality
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Is America an Egalitarian Society Do I believe that American an Egalitarian Society? Nevertheless, we should not live in a more egalitarian society. I do not believe that we should revert to a more egalitarian society, where all are considered equal. While this is a nice notion that may lead to a greater sense of unity among the nation- it's simply not what America was founded for. The magnificence of American society is the ability to make something of success through perseverance. If we were to form a more egalitarian society, Americans may lose our competitive drive. Do I believe that “"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 …show more content…
Throughout an age when your bloodline strong-minded your social standing, an age of kings, he sat down and penned that all men are created equal. What a forthright speech to make in 1776. All men are created equal. We certainly have not accomplished that capacity some 239 years later, but that is the promise of America, it is those words that inspire us. That makes us strive to be better than the generations before us. Nevertheless, I don’t think that every person was created equal; does not serve to lower the social value of treating everybody of every race, creed, religion, in the same way under the law. I understand the threat in throwing this idea out. By no means are all men and women created equal, but that imagined equality is not really what makes it right for us all to be treated fairly under the law. The potential of those words written 239 years ago, was not an unfilled promise, and the classification of "all men" has changed over the years. It will continue to evolve, and change as my son's generation and his children's generation …show more content…
Egalitarianism comes to the English language from the French. We fashioned egalitarian from their égalitaire “egalitarian” (which comes from the Latin aequalitas “equality”), and then added our -ism to it. The word first appeared in English in the late 19th century; our current earliest citation is from 1874, in The Times of India: “Before the Revolution the officers of one regiment welcomed brother corps with champagne suppers, but egalitarianism has brought us down to punch at five francs the bowl." The word has seen a subtle shift in meaning. Its earliest use was typically in reference to a belief in human equality; it has since taken on the sense “a social philosophy that advocates the removal of inequality among people.” (Merriam Webster,
“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.” These were the mighty words that Thomas Jefferson wrote down he developed his portion of the Declaration of Independence. Some people do not recognize Thomas Jefferson as one of the founding fathers, with other names like Ben Franklin and John Hancock being thrown around the room, but yet we should see him as the most important one. Thomas Jefferson was assigned to make a draft for the document. He chose to talk about how all men are equal and everybody deserves life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The declaration of independence is one of the most important documents in history and made all men equal, meaning one race is not superior to another. This influenced the public by making the black race have hope because now, they could see that one day they would be just as equal as...
It is no secret that America is a country that was built on racist ideas and practices, but it is denied as if it were. When the white men signed the Declaration of Independence stating that “All men are created equal”, the majority of those men went back to their homes where they were slave owners. As the Constitution was signed, even some of those men still owned slaves. So how could all men be equal under the law, if the men who created the laws didn’t practice it?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Merriam Webster. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary of English. Ed. Frederick Mish. 11 th.
“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” (Jefferson). Thomas Jefferson, a white, Christian, political southern slave owner, wrote these words in 1776, a period in United States history when slavery thrived. The writer of the Declaration of Independence contradicts himself when he states that all men are created equal, when in actuality, his slaves were denied all that humans were meant to cherish.
Aristotle said, “ The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” True equality is hard to come by when there are so many things that make people so different. The word equality has a very general meaning. That meaning however, can be interpreted in many different ways. To some, the interpretation can lean more towards a sense of freedom. This freedom has been something society has been fighting for throughout the entirety of history. To others, such as author Kurt Vonnegut Jr., it could mean the complete opposite. In Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut portrays equality as a sort of societal imprisonment.
From the beginning of the nations history, America has gone through many trials to develop the idea of equality. Just like people have to go through trials to develop their character, America had to as well. Had these events not occurred, America would not have developed its principles it was founded upon. Throughout centuries, America has shown development from events that showed both equality and inequality (thesis).
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Thomas Jefferson believed that all men were created equal, as he stated in his authorship of the Declaration of Independence. However, he justified slavery by questioning whether or not blacks were complete men. Jefferson’s reason for developing his suspicions of black racial inferiority likely stemmed from the need of labor in the newly formed
In 1776, five members assembled to draw up the Declaration of Independence, a document that clearly stated independence from Britain, and listed the colonists’ grievances and natural rights. One of the most controversial components was the following statement: “We hold these truth 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 concept of equality debated and understood in a variety of ways throughout American history. Equality, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, can be defined as “the quality or state of having the same rights, social status, etc.” Consequently, changes have been sought to obtain rights that were not easily granted. Marginalized members of society have fought to acquire rights, whether human or civil, since they believe that, as citizens, they deserve equality. The trend of change in the name of equality has brought about numerous fundamental and eternal transformations in American society.
The main argument of the Declaration of Independence was "All men were created equal" and there were certain unalienable rights that government should not violate which included that people have rights and freedom of life, liberty, and happiness. But if the government violates these rights then the people have the right to form their own society protecting their rights. Similarly, some of the people agreed with this point and some did not. When we read or hear the phrase by Jefferson, " All men are created equal", we tend to think that all the men and women, whites and blacks, all the races and colors are equal and are the creation of the god. But actually, this phrase disagreed because "All men are created equal" was written by Thomas Jefferson who owned 200 slaves and never set them free. Thus, we can predict that Jefferson phrase did not include any of the black people when he wrote this phrase. As a matter of fact, for Jefferson, the phrase meant all free men who owned property are created equal. As a result, the definition of equality was hard to find. In addition, the narrow definition created distinctions between free men vs slaves, women vs men, property owner vs debtors and much more. The phrase by Thomas Jefferson, "We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal", but its conclusion is morally wrong. It is not true that black people are inferior to whites. This
However, because there were those who believed that only white people were included in the clause, the opposition had plenty of grounds to justify their slavery. Lincoln’s paraphrase turns the “all men are created equal” clause into the proposition instead of the axiom. He says that if we are all conceived in liberty, then we are all created equal. This articulation strongly disputes the John Calhoun Calhoun’s view of the declaration that said that there is no way that people of color would be protected under the declaration because there was actually no “state of nature” that Hobbs and Locke described. Lincoln’s axiom doesn’t require us to return to the sate of nature like other axioms do. If all men are conceived in liberty, then no man can rule over another
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” (Declaration of Independence,1776)
for all persons (Rich and Walker 1). Egalitarianism deals with the acceptance of any gender or