There are several instituting concepts that for me illustrate the founding principles of America and the hopeful vision of the future of this country. There are those that stood out for me during my research for this assignment and resonated with my feelings and understanding of the country at large. First and foremost is Life Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness; this sentiment is to me the very cornerstone of the hope of America’s inception. Given this principles self explanatory nature I will concentrate on the other founding concepts that have meaning to me. First of these would be the thought of benefiting from one’s own hard work, second is the inalienable rights of man, and lastly the concept of the least possible government being the best.
This first principal I would like to discuss is that of benefiting from one’s own hard work. This in particular for me embodies the spirit with which this country was founded, the people of the colonies were tired of the subjugation that took place under British rule, the taxes imposed, and the taking of their property for use by the crown. This was the underlying sentiment for freedom in my eyes; people just wanted the opportunity to better their own lives through the effort they put forth. I chose this as my first principle because it seems to be infringed upon more and more in this country today. The idea of the founders was that we keep most of what we earn through our own hard work with a small amount going to the common good. Some examples of this common good would be that of roads, law enforcement, schools etc. Today’s government has expanded these ideas to the point where a large percentage of people today give more than 50% of their annual income to some form of tax. This de...
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...er yourself and station in life, having Inalienable rights which are basic God given rights of men commonly understood by all, and the least possible government being obviously the best option for a free nation. I hope that I was able to effectively express these three founding principles and how I feel they contributed to the founders’ vision and hope for America. Though I personally believe these principles are being threatened in America today they are also part of what makes this country the greatest in the world. Giving free people the opportunity to flourish by their own ideas and work, allowing them the protection of common sense law, and not stifling the growth, desire, or hope of this nation through an excess of democracy is in essence the most profound hope of our fore fathers and those that sacrificed to build this country to what it is a beacon of hope.
When the American founding fathers etched the first words into the Constitution, they formulated the timeless document around three basic principles: logos, ethos, and pathos. Essentially, the Framers envisioned a society and country where free speech allows people to utilize these core fundamental principles as a symbol of American freedom following secession from the British. In fact, these core principles were first operated in a political scheme by the Athenians and Romans. But over many centuries, these principles finally gained recognition in a revolutionary setting when they were first employed by social theorists such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire. Following the Humanist Revolution, these same principles
The American fight for freedom is a critical part of the American history. Following the foundation of a nation, the individuals who enabled the fight for freedom and were central in the fight called the founding fathers. In the book ‘Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different’, the author provides a vivid investigation of the founding fathers. The book offers a unique point of view that looks on to the founding fathers’ live in detail. The book offers knowledge that extends beyond what is availed into the history books into an analysis of character to present their individual values as a system in which they founded guiding principles for the country. The paper offer an analysis of ‘Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different’. Gordon Wood brings to light the ethical principles of the founding fathers to bring to light the basis of moral statures propagated and applied in the democratic system today despite the difference in time.
In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.
America has lived up to its founding ideals of equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy. All of the placards except placards 2B, 2E, and 2M support the idea that America has lived up to them. Although there were some times that America did not live up to the ideals, like the time that African Americans not being equal, there were more times that America did. America lives up to the ideal of equality every day because the government views all people as equal, and everyone has the same rights. After reading these placards the evidence supports that America has lived up to these ideals throughout history.
During and after the turmoil of the American Revolution, the people of America, both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, strove to create a new system of government that would guide them during their unsure beginning. This first structure was called the Articles of Confederation, but it was ineffective, restricted, and weak. It was decided to create a new structure to guide the country. However, before a new constitution could be agreed upon, many aspects of life in America would have to be considered. The foremost apprehensions many Americans had concerning this new federal system included fear of the government limiting or endangering their inalienable rights, concern that the government’s power would be unbalanced, both within
In the United States' Declaration of Independence the founding fathers stated: "…held certain 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."
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.
The Declaration of Independence listed the grievances such as, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” The next important step to the foundation of a new government was to gain peoples ambition by showing how the government would be run if a new party took over. This goal was achieved by stating the rights of man. “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.” This statement made people hopeful and feel kindly toward this new government.
Two hundred and twenty five years ago, a document was added to our constitution granting us five ideals. This document was called the Bill of Rights, which granted us the basic rights of opportunity, liberty, equality, democracy and rights. Since the Bill of Rights was added, not all of the ideals have been obeyed consistently. Liberty, rights, and democracy have been followed well throughout the years, but opportunity and equality have fluctuated. Although the constitution and bill of rights says every american should be granted with these ideals, some americans simply did not make that so.
In the early 1800s Thomas Jefferson envisioned American society as a nation of independent farmers living under the central government that exercised a minimum control over their rights and protected individual rights of the people gr...
Thomas Jefferson once said “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. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” When asked if I believe that the United States is living up to its founding principles, the first thing that comes to my mind is this quote and I have to say that America is not living up to its founding principles.
After breaking free from the British tyranny in 1776, America was built on the principles of independence and freedom. The weakness of the first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, proved that the United States needed some form of a strong central government. However, this created an issue due to the fact that the new Americans were scared that there would be a repeat of the oppression they faced with Britain (History Staff). The solution was to create a government that was able to restrict itself from gaining too much power, while also simultaneously being able to maintain its strength. The solution was found by adding a few principles in the foundation of the American governmental system. First off, the concept of being able
The Constitution is the greatest document in American history. It has pushed for progressiveness and equality. The Constitution is basically the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution was written to organize a strong national government for the American states. Before the Constitution, the nation's leaders had established a national government under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles gave independence to each state; the states lacked authority, the ability to work together, and to solve national problems. The U.S. Constitution established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens using five big ideas and this shaped today's America.
From these observations it appears, that in forming a government on its true principles, the foundation should be laid in the manner I before stated, by expressly reserving to the people such of their essential rights as are not necessary to be parted
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.