Essays on The Declaration Of Independence

The United States of America has a storied and complex history. Because the beginnings of our nation transpired with rebellion, there is much controversy about when our nation actually became a nation. Many believe that it was the formal acknowledgement of our sovereignty by the nation that governed us, Great Britain. But the true answer is that our nation actually became a nation shortly thereafter, when the Articles of the Confederation were adopted and ratified by the colonies in 1777. The ratification of the Articles of the Confederation marked the first founding constitution of our country. Up until that ...

The Documents

The Declaration of Independence Among the founding documents of the American republic the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States share primacy. First in time was the Declaration of Independence. Prepared by the Continental Congress over a year after the American Revolution had started with the battles at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775, the Declaration was silent on the question of religious freedom. In Jefferson’s words, which still ring down across almost two and a half centuries, the Declaration is firmly based on the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and, of ...

Introduction

Data from the US Census Bureau shows that in 2014, some 33 million people (10% of the population) in the United States did not have health insurance (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development -OECD, 2015). While all governments should offer universal healthcare to their people, some poor countries have plenty of socio-economic complexities to handle it, and for now developed countries like the United States are the ones highly capable of offering free healthcare to all their citizenry. The United States has one of the most unstable healthcare systems in terms of its affordability and access to all citizens ...

Influence of American Revolution of the Civil War

Influence of American Revolution of the Civil War

Introduction

The American Revolution and the Civil War are two wars that have shaped American history and the American society. The American Revolution started with 13 colonies forming the Continent Congress declaring their Independence from the British rule in 1776 and ended with the Loyalists winning the Revolutionary War (Becker, 2013, p. 5). The Civil War was started when Southern states declared independence by seceding from the Union. South Carolina was the first state to secede in 1860 and they were later joined by Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, North ...

What Service Did Vietnam Render during the Conflict?

Not by accident, Ho (1948) begins his speech with the famous statements contained in the Declaration of Independence. He also mentions the values of equality and self-determination upheld by the Allies. He longs for these principles that have become universal everywhere but on the territory of the occupied Vietnam. It means that the Vietnamese have been suffering from the absence of equality and self-determination as well as other basic rights guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence under the lengthy occupation of both the French and the Japanese. Therefore, in essence, the ‘service’ provided by the Vietnamese for the free ...

The presidential powers have considerably extended since the time when the Founding fathers framed the Constitution of the United States. At that time, the thirteen colonies that formed a newly established state were afraid of a strong executive leadership. They feared that if a president were entitled by the Constitution to have extended powers, he would have misused or abused these powers, governed by self-interests, rather than the interests of the nation. This skepticism toward strong leadership resulted from the experience that the founders had when dealing with the English monarch (The Declaration of Independence, 1776). In order to ...

The CHET:

CHET Narrative: For the better part of the eighteenth century, the North America continent was subject to the whims of European empires that sought to establish control in the region. However, the Seven Years’ War of between 1754 and 1763 changed the situation by eradicating not only the Spanish but also the French forces from the region. In other words, the English Monarch secured its rights over the Thirteen American Colonies over which Britain presided. Now, the problem with the removal of France and Spain as a threat to the colonists quickly emerged as sentiments of independence resounded among ...

In the miniseries, John Adams, political topics are considered in the entire film basing the film on the reign of US President John Adams (McCullough, 2007). Jefferson also contributes to the independence issue in his article on the declaration of independence in the United States. Abraham Lincoln in his speech determined that justice is the base of what our forefathers fought for and in their honour, it should be upheld (Lincoln, 2010). According to Jefferson, the form of justice presented in the American system is entirely dependent on the unalienable rights of human beings, which are given to them ...

Slavery was a controversial issue for the Founding Fathers of the USA. For the sake of building an independent country, they preferred to ignore the problems of inequality and injustice that slavery brought into the American society. Moreover, the majority of the Founders owned slaves themselves. There were only 7 Founding Fathers that were not slave owners: Roger Sherman, Thomas Paine, Robert Treat Paine, Alexander Hamilton, Oliver Ellsworth, Samuel Adams and John Adams (Laccarino). They came from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York or Pennsylvania and had to take into account conservative attitudes of the other Founding Fathers some of whom ...

The primary difference between the two draft and ratified versions of the Declaration of Independence is the brevity of the ratified version. The ratified version is concise, brief and to the point as opposed to the draft that tended to expound on particular statements. The draft version of the Declaration was lengthier in an attempt to convey the grievances that formed the basis of the push for independence. For example, statements such as “sacred and undeniable” are replaced with the word “self-evident”, “by a power self-assumed” is removed and “totally to cease in some of these colonies” is replaced ...

At the foundations of the American Revolutionary War, of between 1775 and 1783, were calls for independence among the Patriots residing in Britain’s Thirteen Colonies in North America. The Americans emerged victoriously and as a result, the English Monarch lost its claims over the vast territories. Now, the understanding of freedom in the thirteen regions revolved around the eradication of tyranny to pave the way for democracy and for that reason alone, the United States abhorred monarchies and promoted a government based on a democratic system. To that end, it is no wonder that concerns over the central ...

On July 4, 1776, the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. While this was not the first act in the American Revolution, it was a definitive act which the colonists felt was necessary for their intentions to be known. After years of unfair treatment with no representation within the British parliament, the colonists were tired of Britain’s actions against them. While often represented as a simple issue with taxes, there were far more grievances the colonists had with their treatment at the hands of the King. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, the colonists felt ...

The Declaration of Independence is the basic legal instrument that serves as the background in forming the equality of the society and protecting its rights. The Declarations presupposes all human beings to be treated equally and possess equal natural rights. According to the basic principles of the Declaration, the humankind has been created by God to be equal at all times. As it has been stated by Lincoln, equality is an abstract truth, so every man must be treated equally in the society. As the Declaration is a legal instrument, it predetermines the Government to be responsible for the ...

In order to understand the way, the history of the United States in the timeframe and after the Civil War, has represented the conflicts and inconsistencies between the principles and ideals in the Declaration of Independence and reality of life in America before the Civil War, it is essential to outline the brief history, reasons and the outcomes of this war and the major postulates of the Declaration of Independence It is claimed by the experts that the founding document of political tradition in US is the Declaration of Independence. The major argumentation for this statement is that it ...

Jane Doe

Abstract The Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention of 1848 was a pivotal point for women in the United States. Women had been voicing their concerns over their lack of rights as early as the 1700’s yet it was the Seneca Falls convention that created a public platform for the injustices against women to be expressed on a large scale for all to hear. The pioneers of this convention included Elizabeth Caddy Stanton, Lucretia Motts, Martha Wright, Jane Hunt, and Mary Ann McClintock. These brave women fought long and hard for the opportunity to bring attention to the ...

What is the Fourth of July to slaves?

Introduction “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” is a famous speech given by an African American slave fugitive at the time by the name Frederick Douglas, which was delivered on the Fifth of July, the day after the day of independence, in 1852. The speech highlighted the plight of the African Americans who were discriminated by the white population. The speech describes the Fourth of July as a paradox since the independence given to the African Americans was paradoxical. To the African American, the fourth of July was a day when the White continued to enjoy ...

Define the differences in the “push”, “passage”, and “pull” factors of three different immigrant groups which come to America between 1607 and 1830? Use testimonies from the various websites provided in the first three weeks of readings which illustrate individuals from these groups. Also, are there any testimonies which present how the resident Anglo-Americans feel about subsequent groups which came to America, especially after the Revolution? (For example, what does Benjamin Franklin think about German immigrants and their presence in Pennsylvania?) There were four waves of immigration into America. The first one took place between 1790 and 1820. The ...

Question 1.

Historian Annette Gordon-Reed states: “I think that you should approach the study of history with a spirit of curiosity. Be open minded about the possibility that the story is much bigger than what has been presented.” Considering the textbook and the discussion board content, choose one topic of American History between 1492 - 1865 on which your thinking has changed to a “bigger” understanding. Generally, all historical themes contribute to the improvement of my open-mindedness and expansion of outlook, but I would like to mark the topic of the American Revolution. Indeed, the American Revolution was a crucial part ...

American Revolutionary War is the revolution, which aimed at gaining the US independence because of the growing conflict between some American colonies and the British Crown. Though initially being a revolution, it soon developed into the international war, as France got involved in it in 1775 ("American Revolution History - American Revolution - HISTORY.com", 2009, n.p.). So, what were the causes and consequences of the American Revolutionary War? What role did French and Indian War play? What was the effect of taxation? Let us consider these and some other aspects of American Revolutionary War in detail.

Causes and Consequences

Until the beginning ...

The Declaration of Independence refers to the “pursuit of happiness”, which has been raised in debate to determine if the word happiness should be replaced with the word pleasure. This is a valid argument, because happiness and pleasure seem to be exchangeable, but in reality these terms involve different emotions. This paper will discuss The Declaration of Independence reference to the “pursuit of happiness” and determine is pleasure should replace happiness. The Declaration of Independence refers to the “pursuit of happiness” as the motivation to inspire all citizens to always move forward in life. This can include furthering education, ...

Liberty is defined as a state where people have a right to speech and expression, whereas the Equality is defined as a position of being just, particularly in status, rights, or chances. In the history of the world, many wars and revolutions have taken place to achieve rights which each person deserves. Out of these, the rights to Equality and liberty have always been the principal focus. This was the case in the American Revolution as well. After gaining independence, these rights were highlighted in various documents like the Declaration of Independence, the Law and the Bill of Rights. ...

After the American Civil War of between 1861 and 1865, and the ensuing Reconstruction Era that apparently failed, the United States witnessed the beginning of new social orders based on old ideologies. Persons of African descent remained inferior to their white counterparts and were it not for the federal government’s abolition of the slavery system black enslavement would have most likely returned to its former glory as the economic backbone of the South. To that end, while the understanding of 1877 as a year revolves around the end of reconstruction efforts as Union troops left the South, it ...

Henry David Thoreau and Dr. Martin Luther King are two people who helped to change America for the better with their actions and their words. Henry David Thoreau, in both is writing and in his social practice, developed a new form for citizenship and civic action called Civil Disobedience. He developed Civil Disobedience in response to his government’s support of slavery, but also its support for the Mexican-American War. Over the years, many great leaders of important social movements, both within and without America, have been inspired by the example of the life and social practice Henry David ...

Compose a complete 20-question citizenship exam as if you worked for the Bureau of Naturalization in 1918. In other words, for the purposes of the first part of this project, pretend that you are a native-born white male Protestant middle-class bureaucrat in 1918 who has the power to decide if an immigrant applicant has Americanized sufficiently to become a U.S. citizen. Your exam must capture the cultural values and core knowledge presented in Student’s Textbook (1918). Some but not all of your questions must concern history (i.e., the version of U.S. history presented in the 1918 textbook).

Citizenship Exam

Who ...

Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail remains one of the most famous essays written by Dr. King, and demonstrates his mastery of rhetoric as well as ethics. Dr. Martin Luther King penned the letter while in jail for protesting segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South, and for equality and over all civil rights for African Americans in the rest of the United States. King has always been considered the most important of the civil rights leaders of that period, and the eloquence and his masterful use of rhetoric and other persuasive techniques on display ...

Congress at the time, asked Thomas Jefferson and others to author a declaration of independence. The leadership at needed a document that stated why it was necessary for America’s independence of the British colony. Jefferson wrote down what he thought many Americans thought about the rights they should have. The declaration explains why the colonies needed to break away from the British colonies. The documents claim that people have freedoms and rights that should not and cannot be taken away. Additionally, the document lists the complaints against the King and that the colonised have to be free in ...

Causes of the Revolution

The American Revolution occurred between 1765 and 1783 after the colonists within the thirteen American colonies declined the British aristocracy and monarchical rule. Beginning 1765, the American colonists refused to acknowledge the power of the British parliament to tax the American colonists while the latter did not have colonial representatives in the governments. The following years were marred by protests as American patriots sought to ventilate their disapproval of the authority of the British monarchy and aristocracy over the thirteen American colonies. Religion played an important role in ushering the revolution as the Christian revivalists in the Great Awakening ...

The Constitution was written and signed in 1787. It, however, entered into force in 1789. It enshrines the fundamental framework of the US system of governance. Accordingly, it establishes the Congress, Presidency and Supreme Court. Besides, it provides for the bill of rights. On the other hand, the Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and adopted by the Congress on July 4, the same year. Accordingly, it preceded the Constitution. In a nutshell, the Declaration of Independence enunciates themes such as equality and inalienable entitlements to all citizens, the philosophy of public governance, legitimacy of ...

Benjamin Franklin role in U.S history

Benjamin Franklin was one of the greatest founding fathers of United States. He had different attributes ranging from author, printer, political theorist, diplomat, scientist, and inventor. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson referred to him as a great philosopher and the greatest man of his age. As a scientist, he played a significant role in the invention of physics and educated Americans on electricity from his theories. In addition, many of his inventions including lightning rod, bifocal glasses, Franklin stove and clock helped in transforming Americans life. Before Franklin lightning rod invention most grown up men would hide under beds ...

All men are created equal are the strong immortal words written by Thomas Jefferson at the beginning of “The Declaration of Independence” that resonated through the entire history of American. Jefferson made a clear declaration of the nature law that “all men are created equal,” which says all men are born free, and each comes into this world with inclusive human rights of liberty, either of using or moving it at his or her own (Becker). Also, Jefferson continued to describe it a personal liberty that is totally given to an individual by the Creator of nature due to ...