life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

1880 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Life liberty and pursuit of happiness relating to bill of rights

In June of 1776 Thomas Jefferson began to draft The Declaration of independence. He completed it and had it signed on June 28, 1779. A very famous line from this document would have to be “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” (Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776) Today we can see that those rights are not exactly being protected. It is evident through the everyday killings, the people being locked up due to non violent crimes and how most people aren’t happy with their current lifestyle. Today teens are getting abortions left and right because they lay around, getting pregnant, then figure they can just get rid of the baby. Teens are shooting each other because of living five blocks from each other. Yet, there are some people who start groups to give a respect to life and try to help others gain that same respect. Then the matter of liberty comes up; we believe that we are free but the reality of it is that we are in the shackles of the government. They control our every aspect of life: what we do, when we do, where we do and how we do it. The only liberty we have is what we think and how we choose to act on those thoughts. We have the freedom to choose what will make us happy as far as life goes and that will lead into the topic of the pursuit of happiness. To make it simple the pursuit of happiness says “we have the right to chase dreams,” but if we take a look around, we persecute people every day because they choose to live a life style that makes them happy. They get cursed, things thrown at them and maybe killed because of their religion. The same with homosexuals, they are treated like “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they ar... ... middle of paper ... ...omas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776) is just a figment of our founding fathers imaginations. We live day by day as citizens of a nation that doesn’t even abide by its own rules. I once read a picture that said “if we lie to the government it’s a felony, but if the government lies to us it’s just politics”. (N/A, facebook.com, May 5, 2014) That picture was really deep; it just goes to show the hypocrisy of the government and its officials. From doing this project it’s definitely safe to say that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776) is a human right that is being violated on a regular basis. We as people of the United States of American deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776)

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton And The Declaration Of Independence

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Declaration was for the colonists to seek for independence. The quote most widely known is “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”(Jefferson) The Declaration of Independence was written mostly by Thomas Jefferson who stated the above quote. Like the Declaration of Sentiments, all men are created equal. The Declaration of Independence allows the people to have the right to abolish an proposition that they do not agree with. They also have the right to institute a new government if they do not feel it is not ensuring safety and happiness to everyone; they can vote in a government who will ensure this. It is also the peoples right to throw out a government when laws are abused. Every year on July 4, people in the United States celebrate Independence day, also known as the Fourth of

    Read More

  • The Vast Influence of Thomas Jefferson

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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...

    Read More

  • Vision Achieved By Jefferson

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Vision Achieved Jefferson envisioned a government that allowed its citizens to exercise inalienable rights. In exact words, he states, “ 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.” To be more evident, how can we define these “inalienable rights” of “life”, “liberty”, and the “pursuit of happiness?” Have these inalienable rights, achieved Jefferson’s goal? I am convinced, Jefferson’s revolutionary vision of life, liberty, and happiness has at last been achieved in America.

    Read More

  • Response To Jefferson's Declaration Of Independence

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jefferson's text was extremely taboo especially without the support of a reputable country. Thomas Jefferson's words were also courageous and daring. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson used the words in the preamble - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - in which he uses happiness to mean property. He also gives examples of the tyrant qualities King George possesses and attacks the king's character and his skills as a leader.

    Read More

  • Unalienable Rights Essay

    504 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Responsibility in Lord of The Flies

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    People should benefit from freedom, equality and justice. Absolute freedom is sometimes very dangerous and may destroy the basic principles of the society. A lot of people believe that freedom means doing whatever you want, whenever you want.

    Read More

  • Protecting Life, Liberty, and Property in the Bill of Rights

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    “ The government is morally obligated to serve people and protect their rights such as life, liberty, and property. “ The Constitution had no effect against the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was created to make a stronger central government to protect the rights of its people. The social contract protects the natural rights, while the Constitution protects every other rights, like adding an extra layer of protection. The writers intention of the Bill of Rights was to ensure the safety of citizens rights without them being violated. Most amendments apply in daily life, but it might not show. The First amendment, freedom of speech, amendment two, the right to bear arms, and amendment four, protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. These three amendments are a major factor in daily lives for citizens.

    Read More

  • Pathos, Logos, Ethos And Logos In Barack Obama's Speech

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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."

    Read More

  • The Five Freedoms Of The First Amendment

    2069 Words  | 5 Pages

    Freedom is something that is not taken lightly in our country. With so many people in America, and so many different religions and views, there will never be a way to make every single person happy. People have the right to believe what they choose, say what they want to say, and do what they want to do. They have the right to worship and take part in ceremonies they choose. It is not for the government to tell them how to live their life. There may be restrictions on certain things but they do not require you to believe a specific way. America is a privileged nation and a free country and the people have every right to be thankful for all the freedoms we have been given.

    Read More

  • The American Dream: A Disputed Reality

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    When thinking about freedom many thoughts come to mind. However, freedom is just a broad statement in something even bigger. The American Dream, not just the hope of freedom, but also equality, happiness, and certain key rights that every person should be entitled to. It’s because of all these factors that make The American Dream not so much a reality. It’s difficult to see equality when thinking about local asylum seekers, disputes over same sex marriage and the lack of education for women all around the world.

    Read More

  • Educational Equity

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” (Declaration of Independence,1776)

    Read More

  • The Giver Research Paper

    425 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Days went by, and weeks. Jonas learned, through the memories, the names of colors; and now he began to see it all, his ordinary life (though he knew it was ordinary no longer, and would never be again).” After all living in a democratic society with freedom is better than living in a utopian society without freedom. Living in a democratic society you have freedom to choose what you like and you can think what you want and you can be yourself and not like anyone else.

    Read More

  • The Essential Principles of Freedom

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freedom – it is one of the most essential, ever-present, and controversial themes in both literature, and throughout the world. Every day we exercise our freedoms without giving a thought as to how lucky we are to have the freedoms that we do. So what is freedom really? Equality, rights, democracy . . . these are all ideas that come to mind. But what are the essential principles of true freedom? True freedom is constituted by safety, the ability to freely express oneself, and the right to live without oppression from government.

    Read More

  • Life, Liberty, and Security

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    The right to Life, Liberty, and Security, is one of the most important citizen rights that you can have. With the right to life, it means that any individual has the right to live, and shouldn’t be killed by anyone. With the right to Liberty, it means that we have the right to be free, and do almost anything we want. Lastly, the right to security means that you are guaranteed to be protected the best way possible, while you are in that country. Even though it is just one of many rights, they all fall under the right to freedom. Which everyone just wants the right to do what they want, and to stand up for what they believe in. Everyone should have the right to freedom, as well as the right to life, liberty, and security.We felt that this right was the most important because it summed up the rights that we need as citizens. Like the right to not be enslaved, can count as the right to Life and Liberty. So in our opinion, the right to Life, Liberty, and Security, is the one that should be one of the first applied rights to our lives. The next few paragraphs will describe how we feel on these particular rights, as well as examples of how these rights are being violated all over the world.

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Happiness

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    For our Economics subject, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie based on Chris Gardner, a salesman who was not making that much money and eventually experiences homelessness with his five-year old son. He faces problems when his wife is unwilling to accept his goal to become a stockbroker and leaves him. However, he perseveres even under all this stress.

    Read More

More about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Open Document