The Declaration of the Independence is a very unique document, and definitely one of a kind. Understanding it can be very difficult! Today I discussed with another classmate the fundamental principles based from the following questions:
1. What is self-evident truth?
Self-evident truths should be so obvious, so rational, and so morally sound that there is no questioning them.
-Why should governemnt be based on a self-evident truth?
Government should be based on self-evident truth because if we don't have honesty what do we have or what can we have? Anything that is based upon a lie will not have a stable foundation to survive any turmoil that may surface.
2.Where does the idea of equality come from?
Equality comes from a higher power, the Creator, or God. I also feel like it came from the founding fathers of this country, because they are the ones that wrote Declaration of Independence, and if these words that they wrote, the words came from their thoughts and their beliefs.
3. How are people equal?
People are equal because the Creator gives all people equal oppurtunity. So everyone has the same oppurtunity, and it all depends on how one chooses to handle the situation.
4. Where do men get their rights?
Men get their rights from God, or how some see it a higher power or Creator.
-Why can't these rights be taken away?
Equal rights cannot be taken away because they were given to us by the Creator and we have no way to even begin to touch something that isn't a physically object.
-What are vested rights, and why can they be taken away?
Vested rights are not unalienable. These unalienable rights are the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue whatever course of life a person may desire in sarch of happiness.
5. What is the most important of the inalienable rights? Why?
I think that the most important inalienable rights is based on opinion. I think that the most important is the right to life. No one should have the right to kill us because they don't think that we should be live, that is our right, and n one shoul ever be able to take that away.
6. What is the reason to form government? Why?
We have a government to assure us inhabitants that the rights of the people shall be protected and preserved.
7. Where does the government get its right to exist? Why?
The government gets this right by the consent of the people. We give them this right in order for them to protect our rights.
8. What is the right and duty of the people when the government fails to protect those rights?
Our duty as the people is to replace the government to someone/something that shal better serve the people, if they fail to protects us and do as they have promised.
Excerpts from the Declaration of Independence that can help answer these questions:
"Sound government should be based on self-evident truths. These truths should be obvious, so rational, and so morally sound that ther authenticity is beyond reasonable dispute.
The Equal station of mankind here on earth is a cosmic reality, an obvious and inherent aspect of the law of nature and of nature's God.
This presupposes (as a self-evident truth) that the Creator made human beings equal in their rights, equal before the bar of justice, and equal in his sight. (of course, individual attributes and personal circumstances in life vary widely.)
These rights which have been bestowed by the Creator on each individual are unalienable; that is, they cannot be taken away or violated without the offender coming under the judgment and wrath of the Creator. A person may have have other rights, such as those which hae been created as a "vested" right by statute, but vested rights are not unalienable. They can be altered or elminated at any time.
Amoung the most important of the unalienable rights are the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue whatever course of life a person may desire in search of happiness, so long as it does notinvade the inherent rights of others.
The most basic reason for a community or a nation to set up a system of government is to assure its inhabitants that the rights of the people shall be protected and preserved.
And because this is so, it follows that no office or agency of government has any right to exist except with the consent of the people or their representatives.
It also follows that if a government, either by malfeasance or neglect, fails to protect those rights-- or, even worse, if the goenment itself begins to violate those rights-- then it is the right and duty of the people to regain control of their affairs and set up a form of government which will serve the people better."
I think that to understand these words you must read them a couple of times, and look between the lines in order to find the deeper meaning.
yes, reading between the lines is good, the founders did not create the idea of equality, nor did they think that they had created it. They declared independence from Britain, and they also declared the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ALL people, not just americans, for if equality comes from the supreme being, then all men are equal, not just americans
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