Preview

Our Inalienable Rights

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
647 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Our Inalienable Rights
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the words “life, liberty, and the pursuit to live of happiness”, he ment everyone has the right to live their lives freely. Of course, they are allowed to live freely under certain in alienable rights, in other words, everyone is equal and is not below or above the law, as long as no harm comes to others. I believe Jefferson was right to think these words are indeed in alienable rights. I too believe that people have the right to live free and happy .As Jefferson defines the inalienable rights of a citizen as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, he defines its meaning best in the “Declaration of Independence”. In the “Declaration of Independence” , he helps to describe that every citizen has inalienable rights by emphasizing equality. In the document, Jefferson writes, “ We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain in alienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson expressed his faith in mankind and his views on the nature of democracy. Thus meaning everyone has the equal right to choose what they wish to with their lives. Jefferson believe in this notion very much and so do I. along with the inalienable rights, Jefferson thought that these rights were not made by some law from the government or tyrant, but is our own internal and unique rights as human beings. But even with these rights, some form of government should be established to help protect and balance these rights. Thomas Jefferson also new that we had to protect our inalienable rights. I firmly agree with him Jefferson; we should be able to find our own way to secure our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the “Declaration of independence”, Jefferson writes “that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “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” sparks the idea that everyone is equal and are given this equality by God, not the English government (Jefferson 679). This statement shines a light on a belief that is well known, but may have been forgotten through King George’s tyranny. Jefferson helps the colonists see that their basic rights should not be subject to change by King George and that these rights are imperishable. Then, Jefferson presses onto his belief “that whenever any Form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it...” which is the case of the tyrannical English rule in the colonies (Jefferson 679). This statement questions why the colonists would consider…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Thesis: Thomas Jefferson’s The Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, is the announcement of the colonist to gain independence from Great Britain. Summary: Jefferson strongly believes that every man deserves the basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Thomas Jefferson, American Founding Father and the principal author of The Declaration of independence, theorized that “the care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” Jefferson pointed to “unalienable rights,” and these rights were “giving to us by our creator and not by a government.” To protect the fundamental and individuals rights accordingly, James Madison was involved by including the Bill of Rights to The Constitution. The intention with these, was to remove the power from government reach only. Years after the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was put in place, a remarkable Landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court was news and continues to…

    • 175 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Jefferson’s writings and The Declaration of Independence are similar to the Federalist papers written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist papers reflect the same American themes that Thomas Jefferson wrote about like all men have inalienable rights. McMichael states, “The arguments reflect, as does the Constitution itself, the ideas of John Locke and the concepts of ‘social contract’ and of the natural rights of man” (McMichael 355). The arguments in the Federalist papers have themes like the natural rights of man from John Locke. The natural rights of man are life, liberty, and property, and these are like Thomas Jefferson’s inalienable rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) in The Declaration…

    • 119 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “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” (“Thomas Jefferson Quotes”). Thomas Jefferson included this statement in the Declaration of Independence to help make strides toward separating and gaining independence from Great Britain. The great scholar, writer, and lawyer that Thomas Jefferson was helped him to contribute greatly to the history of the United States of America by writing the Declaration of Independence, becoming the third president of the United States, and making the…

    • 2269 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Jefferson, a prime example of an original American politician, put many motions into action in regard to the creation of this new land. One of Jefferson’s greatest accomplishments is the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. This single document made way for the American Revolution to set sail and succeed. Within this piece of writing, Jefferson declared that “all men are created equal” (Jefferson 762). Though this statement, Jefferson put the image of equality and freedom in sight. He also writes of the American people as “a people who mean to be free” (Jefferson 343). These statements laid the foundation of the ideas behind the creation of this document and the reasoning behind its…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the American colonies from English rule. On the Fourth of July, they approved the final edited version of the Declaration of Independence. The members of the Continental Congress made only two minor changes in the opening paragraphs of Jefferson's draft declaration. Most scholars today believe that Jefferson derived the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence from the writings of English philosopher John Locke. Locke wrote that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain inalienable natural rights. That is, rights that are God given and can never be taken or even given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said they are life, liberty and property. Locke believed that the most basic human law…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I believe jefferson meant what he said when he said that “all men were created equal.” The reason I believe he meant what he said was because he tried to make living conditions and labor better for slaves. But I don’t…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    pretty much all Thomas Jefferson wanted was for the government to use their power wisely and protect the people instead of wasting It on dumb stuff.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jefferson predicated “America’s ideals of freedom and quality,” which come around the world. The document showed about the equality among the human, why it is important and how to do treat people equally (The Constitution and Slavery.) In the first part of the document, Thomas Jefferson mentioned we have the rights, we have our own independence, and we do not depend on England anymore; therefore, we are equal. Besides that, he also gave many evidences to persuade spectator, for examples, the taxes or the Trade. After the document was read, many states in the North of America used Jefferson’s words “all men are created equal” as their slogan to free slaves. Furthermore, in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr repeated Jefferson’s worlds when he stood in front of Lincoln Memorial, and that sentence was repeated on a women’s right meeting in 1848 (Jefferson and the Declaration of…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (Document A). With these words, Jefferson begins the meaty part of the Declaration. Clearly, Jefferson believed that equality was a powerful idea. By saying “created equal”, Jefferson is separating the idea of equal opportunity from equal performance or equal reward. He is simply stating…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He believed that the ability of the common citizen to govern himself was an effective way to dilute the power from any one person, and along that same train of thought, keep that one person from developing an affinity for that power and developing the tendency to abuse that power. He acknowledged the ability of the majority to sometimes make wrong decisions, but argued that a wrong decision made by the people is often better than any made by a king or by a tyrant. Jefferson was so devoted to the idea of freedom that he even supported the idea of rebellion, saying that it should be a necessary part of any true…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “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”. This quote was written by Thomas Jefferson and played a major part in the Declaration of Independance. The Declaration of Independance was a document that explained to the world why Great Britain's thirteen American colonies declared themselves to be "free and independent states". The document also consisted of the five main ideals Americans were to be guided or inspired by: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity,…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Declaration of Independence written in 1776, was and still is an important document in American history. The declaration was primarily written by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was a supporter of John Locke, clearly evident in his use of Locke’s idea of natural rights, after minimal modifications. Most founders were in agreement to Locke’s ideas. Such as his idea of unalienable rights, which are life, liberty and property. In the Declaration of Independence they are stated as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Locke also believed in a social contract theory, which is an agreement between the government and its people that the established government should protect the rights of the people, and if it does not do so the people have the right to abolish the government and create a new one. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government” (Declaration). The founder’s beliefs were heavily influenced by the enlightenment period but Locke’s beliefs and ideals are most evident in the Declaration of Independence.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Declaration of Independence contains fascinating ideas of good government. The ideas that benefit the people are natural rights or inalienable rights, and all men are created equal. Besides containing laws that benefit the people it also includes ideas that prevent power corruption from any form of government and makes the only reason for a government existing is to protect the people’s natural rights. What natural rights or inalienable rights are is the rights that cannot be taken away from you. Which are your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What this means is you can live your life the way you want as long as it is legal and does not violate the rights of others. If you were to decipher the phrase, “All men are…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays