...Panel 1: Joshua Louis, 7/9/15, Ms. Parker, Freedom Pamphlet! Panel 2: The Declaration of Independence will always be recognized as the most important document in pursuit of freedom. This document stands as the reminder of a people’s struggle to Claim and win their independence against tyranny and unlawful acts. Historical experts continue to study the wording, structure and history of this document even today. While every American should be familiar with this most important document, many are not. Those people probably thought their ancestors one day woke up with the same rights they have, but that's not the case. They must acknowledge the hardships and sacrifices their ancestors went through to give them freedom. Panel 3: The first principle of popular sovereignty underlies the entire Declaration of Independence. It begins with the huge "We the People". Unlike most of world history and governments of the time, the Americans proclaimed that the people were sovereign, not King or Parliament. Popular sovereignty comes from natural rights, granted by "the Creator". As a consequence, no legitimate government may exist without the "consent of the governed Panel 4: Based on the Declaration of Independence, It begins with a statement that all men are created equal, that this is 'self evident', that everyone is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (John Locke originated this phrase as 'life liberty and estate', estate being more than just property), and when...
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...What Is the Meaning of True Freedom? To be "free," as generally understood, is to be free to do anything one desires to do, as long as you do not harm another person, thus interfering with his or her freedom. With this in mind, you can do essentially anything you want. There are no restrictions, no limits. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that we, humans, have rights. Among these being the famous "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I believe that the very essence of freedom is found in the early years of our American Revolution. There is no better way to describe freedom than an element that all humans strive for, to the point of incivility, or war. It is something that we treasure so dear to us that we chose to die defending it. Freedom has both an external as well as an internal component. The external is associated with how we can "freely" operate in society so as to not, for example, encroach on the freedom of others. The internal component is related to grasping our own potential; and this requires that we understand ourselves, that we understand others through overcoming our prejudices against them, and also that we learn to attain the audacity to express this knowledge openly. Freedom without a goal or purpose is hollow but when the purpose is simply the search for truths in the wide sense of the word and for which there are many paths, it gains meaning. It is through these truths that we will learn to "better" ourselves...
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...The Statue of Liberty was built to stand tall and proud at the entrance gates of America, giving immigrants hope for freedom and a better future. Sadly, today the concept of immigration is being grossly distorted, causing the United States to reconsider their perspective on how far the laws should extend to help non-citizens with their plight in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”(Jefferson). Though they have good intentions, most immigrant families have at least one illegal alien in their residence. Although this may seem like a minor ailment which may be quickly remedied, the difficulties faced during the process of becoming a citizen are more strenuous than most Americans born and raised in the United States comprehend....
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...society for several years. It is also a topic that has been opposed by many people not only because it can be hard to accept marriage between gay couples, but it can also be hard to throw away what is considered to be morals, tradition, the natural law of life and the norms of our society. As the population of homosexuals increases, so does the inequality and the discrimination. We have our society to blame for this. Our civil rights and the Constitution give us many liberties. Civil rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which those who are homosexual are not allowed to chase. If a gay couple cannot be married to the person they love, than this interferes with the pursuit of happiness which violates their freedoms. With that being said, homosexual couples should get the same civil rights as those who are heterosexual regardless of their sexual orientation. As Americans, we pride ourselves in being a democratic nation and a nation of freedom. One of the most important parts of being a democracy is that we, the people, have a say in what happens in our nation through voting, this including same-sex marriage. As of 2010, gays and lesbians can legally marry in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Washington DC, Connecticut, Iowa, and Washington state (Belge). And although this is an improvement in comparison to 20 years ago, having only seven out of fifty states accept marriage between same-sex couples does present a problem. For example, if a gay couple that is considered...
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...must not exist, but does that mean he himself does not exist either? And if one doubts the existence of his or her body and senses, then the rest of the world must not exist either, therefore, one is persuaded that he himself does not exist. This leads the author to the conclusion that he exists, since he was there to be persuaded. Descartes reasons that while we must doubt everything, "doubting" is a form of thinking, which is solid proof that the he that is doing the thinking exists, and is a thinking thing. If something is believed to be true by the majority or the ruling class, does not necessitate it to be true. John Stuart Mill in On Liberty emphasizes three types of liberty; the first one he discusses to no coincidence is the freedom of thought. Mill argued that for an opinion or belief to be considered true, they must be challenged and debated. The only way one can be confident that he /she is right is to ensure complete liberty to contradict his or her opinions. A minority thought or opinion must not be suppressed simply on the basis of it being a minority,...
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...American literature is literature expressed through American’s going through American history. Thomas Jefferson, for example, wrote the Declaration of Independence. During his time of writing it, the congress was going through a debate for independence and freedom. John Adams pretty much forced the Declaration of Independence on Jefferson, so it really was written as an excuse to hold up the decision of independence. Adams wanted it written so they could have something to clarify the freedom humans rightfully deserved. All Jefferson wanted was everyone to be treated equally. We are all men and women, we are all Americans, and skin color shouldn’t define who we are. We all have equal rights as citizens and deserve the same freedom...
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...gender identity and sexual orientation. The argument of legalizing same sex marriages has always sparked controversy among lawmakers. Being gay and loving someone is not illegal. What is illegal is the right to marriage being denied to legally consenting gay couples. As of February 2007, Massachusetts is the only state in which committed gay and lesbian couples can marry. California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, and Vermont each grant varying levels of legal status to gay and lesbian partners but none come close to conferring the full rights and responsibilities of marriage. According to the United States Supreme Court, "The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men." Every American deserves fair treatment under the law and the right to life,...
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...Oppressed There has never been a day in American history that someone has not been oppressed. During the colonization of America all of the colonies were under Britain’s thumb, then only African-Americans and women were under the rule of white men, and even when African-Americans and women were granted rights, there still hasn’t been true equality. America was founded on the idea that everyone should be free and have inalienable rights, so what went wrong? Two hundred and forty one years ago, Patrick Henry was getting the fight for independence and freedom started. He was strong in believing that people’s rights should be protected and that people should not be oppressed. Henry was able to recognize that Britain was an oppressing force....
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...Abolishment of Slavery in the Northern States Abolishing Northern slavery was a result of the Declaration of Independence. Ending Slavery in the North was not easy, and is something that should not be taken for granted. [1] Importing slaves to the North fell off shortly after 1770, and internal trade in blacks rose in importance. The change in the economy helped the North to give up its direct involvement in expanding slavery, without giving up its fortune they already made. The army commanded by Lord Dunmore, the Royal governor of Virginia, became the first refuge of African Americans who hoped, by serving the Crown (or just by escaping their masters), to gain permanent freedom, encouraging the Rebels themselves to enroll free blacks and slaves in their armed forces- and to promise some of the slaves’ freedom if they served for the duration of the war. The actual taking up of arms by the Royal forces encouraged slaves to run away. These runaways certainly gave Lord Dunmore the idea to officially encourage runaway slaves to leave their masters. Dunmore’s proclamation of November 1775 freed only the slaves of Rebel masters and only those who actually joined the British forces. Rumors that the British would employ blacks to control rebellious whites were circulated in London and at home, from Virginia to South Carolina. Dunmore did not want to encourage wholesale slave rebellion, which would have angered loyal Virginian slaveholders. But he did want to make the Rebels as vulnerable...
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...The Pursuit of Happiness America, home of the free and the courageous few. Americans strive for a better life throughout the years. We’re constantly evolving the image of the American dream. Not only do we alter in terms of the country itself ;we the people have changed throughout the years. However, one thing that seems to stay the same is racism and prejudice. With Americans they always try chase the future forgetting that history does repeat itself. The quote,” It was the worst of times, it was the best time,” from the novel A Tale of Two Cities describes America history superbly. We might have met the impossible in terms of technological but we have not fully changed how we the American people see each other as different in each other's...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Write one or two paragraphs in each section. Include citations for your sources. Documents Summary What was its influence on the Constitution? Magna Carta Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an English charter, originally issued in Latin in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219,[1] and reissued later in the 13th century in changed versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter. The charter first passed into law in 1225; the 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) "The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest," still remains on the statute books of England and Wales. The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. Magna Carta was the principal document forced onto an English King by a group of his matters, the feudal barons, in an effort to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was followed and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular...
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...Same Sex Marriage Could you imagine the love of your life in the hospital fighting for his/her life and you, not being granted permission to visit them? Or could you imagine watching all of your family and friends get married, divorced, married again and divorced again and you’re not given even one opportunity to get married once? This is reality for many same sex couples. That is why I am in for making same sex marriage legal worldwide. Instead of focusing on the gender of couples, we should focus on the love that two people share. Not allowing a couple to get married based on sex is discrimination and furthermore, allowing them to marry won’t ruin the sanctity of marriage. People today talk about this sanctity whenever same sex marriage issues come in. This belief is part of the reason why many people believe that gay marriage should not be legalized in many places all over the world. To these people, I pose the question, is marriage really all that sacred in this country that letting anyone who wants to enter into same sex marriage make it not so? In my opinion, people like Kim Kardashian, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and anyone else who will jump into a short marriage, for example 72 hours and then get divorced, are the people who are destroying the sanctity of marriage. I believe that gay marriage should be legalized simply because marriage is something between two consenting adults who love each other, no matter what their gender may be. Last time I checked...
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...mistake, and do not forget; this is a country built off of immigrants. From the first settlers in the seventeenth century looking for freedom and opportunity-- to the Syrian refugees escaping a war-torn country. Nearly four-hundred years apart, people still look to the U.S.A. as a safe haven and a country where the opportunities are endless. A place where they can peacefully be themselves. Having said this, why would anyone try and take those opportunities away? Due to this misconception, many monolingual Americans have this idea that...
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...of being under the British rule. What started it all was the between the French and the Indian, the war had opened up a frontier on the west, but after the proclamation act they didn't allow the colonists to move west. They had troops lined up on the frontier to stop anyone who tried to leave. To pay for these troops and the debt of the French and Indian war they started taxing the colonists. After all the great hardship and brutality the American colonists went through, the colonists were justified in declaring independence and waging war against Britain for the following reasons: unjust laws, the...
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...nonintervention in domestic affairs by big powers and unhampered economic development’” (Diokno 6-7). The Philippines belongs to these developing countries, and a region in this country, Mindanao, has been on pursuit for lasting peace. This is the kind of peace the people in Mindanao called the Bangsamoro people, has been longing for. The conflict in Mindanao between the Government and the Bangsamoro people is the second longest-running in the world. It started more than four hundred years ago during the Spanish occupation. It was then continued by the Americans when Mindanao was not granted independence (Diokno 4). Even after the entire Philippines was granted independence, there were still problems that generated conflict. It carried on over the years through different administrations, including the present one, and it has not yet been resolved. There are still many which seemed as endless counts of infringement of the Bangsamoro that could be heard over the news along with countless reports of hostilities. It is important to identify the root of the conflict itself to know what solutions to the problem are necessary and which steps are needed to take. One of the problems common heard is the Mindanao’s pursuit for autonomy. Although autonomy has already been established by law and granted to the Bangsamoro (we now call the region Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao), some groups claim that the spirit of autonomy is not yet there...
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