Quote Response
In a speech given to the people of New York in 1962, John F. Kennedy said “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” Underneath these simple words, President Kennedy implied the endurance a thought can take on that goes beyond generations. This exact behavior is demonstrated throughout the history of mankind within the concepts of social equality, religious conviction, and both technological and political progress.
Statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, musician, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia: Thomas Jefferson forever impacted the history of the United States by drafting the Declaration of Independence. Although not truly liberated, the United States of America still celebrates its birthday on July 4th, the date of the adoption of the pivotal document. The single page included a list of grievances towards the British monarch and a portion that refers to the natural rights of man: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson also proclaimed that “all men [were] created equal,” a statement that haunted multitudes in the following years around the world. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was directly influenced by the American cry for Independence whereas, more recently, equality is the platform for women’s rights, African-American rights, and gay rights activists.
The Bible is another great example of legacy. It is a compilation of sixty-six books by the hands of over forty authors both known and anonymous that persisted through the obstacle of three different languages, over the course of the greater end of two thousand years without ever contradicting itself. The Bible is the holy text of Christianity, a book that many study and turn to in times of need or uplifting. Voltaire, perhaps the most influential man in the entire age of Enlightenment regarded Christianity as the “most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world,” predicting that the
Statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, musician, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia: Thomas Jefferson forever impacted the history of the United States by drafting the Declaration of Independence. Although not truly liberated, the United States of America still celebrates its birthday on July 4th, the date of the adoption of the pivotal document. The single page included a list of grievances towards the British monarch and a portion that refers to the natural rights of man: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson also proclaimed that “all men [were] created equal,” a statement that haunted multitudes in the following years around the world. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was directly influenced by the American cry for Independence whereas, more recently, equality is the platform for women’s rights, African-American rights, and gay rights activists.
The Bible is another great example of legacy. It is a compilation of sixty-six books by the hands of over forty authors both known and anonymous that persisted through the obstacle of three different languages, over the course of the greater end of two thousand years without ever contradicting itself. The Bible is the holy text of Christianity, a book that many study and turn to in times of need or uplifting. Voltaire, perhaps the most influential man in the entire age of Enlightenment regarded Christianity as the “most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world,” predicting that the