Individual Rights In The United States

In a Free State, individual rights are important. The government administers laws and regulations that apply to all—the citizens, officials, law enforcement—to make sure these rights are authenticated. In the United States of America, the constitution serves as the Law of the Land, in which all Americans are held to the same laws; this “Rule of Law” that defines a Free State is meant to ensure equality for all (Framework). Based on these characteristics, the United States would rightly be deemed a free state, as the nation has become a representative of democracy. As a democratic republic, the people have certain rights within the government in relation to its administration; citizens have the right to question the State and call for amendments
within this “Marketplace of Ideas” (Framework). Civil disobedience is thus mainly used when the government fails to uphold citizen's right and or uses their authority, from law enforcement to legislation, to do so. The meaning of democracy in the United States has changed in the last 200 years of the nation's existence to become what it is today—where all people have the means to participate in the government. America’s political system has been revolutionized many times since the beginning of its establishment—often through means of civil disobedience. An important American value, it had a major role in the establishment of the United States as an independent nation.
The Declaration of Independence was drafted in response to Great Britain's failure to respect colonist’s right, stating that the government exists only to defend these rights and only by the people can it exist; the government’s authority comes from the "governed," and it is the "Right of the People" to establish a new system should it fail to do so (Jefferson). When the government fails to importune to the people, the nation’s democratic values are undermined. By acts of civil disobedience, Americans can make changes to the state without warfare or death on their part; it is an alternative means to show that the people understand what is happening in their nation and the course they want to take. Thus it is American character that "[keeps] the country free," not the government; it is when people are “men first" and act on their “conscience” than the equivocality of right and wrong that unconstitutional laws and administrations can be changed (Thoreau). Civil disobedience is often demonstrated in working to validate the Declaration of Independence’s statement that "all men are created equal" with natural rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"
(Jefferson). The meaning of "all men," has since become to mean all human beings. This change, in which the requirements for being an American and the rights a citizen is granted, was often because of people questioning what the government said was right and coming to terms that it was in fact wrong; it is thinking for one’s self. In a Free State, civil disobedience ensures that the nation remains free; in a democracy, it ensures that it remains democratic. It importunes equality and ensures that all people in a nation are held to the same laws. The government and the citizens become equals in that respect; and in the case that the system is unequal and or un-free, two factors that never fail to exist without one another, citizens can still participate in the administration. Civil disobedience comes in many forms, all which change minds to where people become pledged to a cause or movement.