I think that 's uniquely American. In no other country do you have that opportunity. It 's not to say that everything will happen fairly and the way that you want. But I think that this is a country where that opportunity—to be as wild as you want, as generous as you want, as crazy as you want, as artistic as you want, that all of that, the whole range—exists. And we have a Constitution, a tradition, a culture that supports that.” Amy Tan, Academy of Achievement.
In the article, he elaborated several key points. First, he mentioned that the Americans came from diverse backgrounds and the Declaration of Independence was based on human equality. These features made the nation built upon the untried democratic system based on moral principles so unique that it is destined to be a “great nation of futurity” with God-given mission to complete. Second, the United States was destined to be a great nation because it was founded on the principle of equality, which was man’s conscious law of the soul that makes his decisions and allows him to participate in democracy that makes people happy and a long-lasting and happy nation. Finally, the future belongs to the Americans who are entering on its virgin territory with the truths of God in their minds, good intentions in their hearts and with clear conscience.
The American Dream is the ideal in which freedom holds the opportunity for success and prosperity. When we as Americans think of the American Dream, we imagine someone starting from nothing and
According to universalism, ‘human rights are the rights one has simply because one is human’ (Donelly, 2006: 80). This conception of human rights embodies three main features, the fact that everyone has rights, that all human have equal access to it and finally that no one can stop another to access those rights. This follows the idea that rights are natural and that rights exist independently from positive law, or ‘human-made’ law (Boot, 2006). Following this theory, conceptions of human rights can be found in any culture, such as Christianity, Buddhism or Islam (Kingsbury, 2016). The main conclusion of universalism is that human rights are the same worldwide and so should be protected as such.
How like-minded were these concepts though and just what did they have that was shared by others? In the Declaration of Independence, it is a common objective to state that all men are equal. Jefferson wrote: “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,...” (Jefferson 120). He definitevly states that all shall be on an even playing field within the eyes of this document. Before Jefferson, however, there was also John Locke who proposed a similar thought towards this belief.
Declaration of Independence, The Spirit of 76 Described as the most important document in human history, the Declaration of Independence is a document written in 1776 that declared America’s independence from England, a unanimous decision made by the thirteen United States of America. It spoke of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as part of our freedom. The major thought of the declaration basically acknowledges God (creator) to be above all earthly kings and that all of man’s rights come from God. It laid out the spiritual principles that form the basis for their reasoning. It spoke about all men as equal creations and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Others view it less materialistic and more as a lofty ideal, built into the very psyche of America which sets it apart from other countries, centering around equality of opportunity and the ability for anyone to achieve what they want through pure grit and determination in the fabled land of opportunity. Both views have historical precedence - the American standard of living has always been held up as a source of pride with regards to the former, and for the latter, rugged individualism and hard work has formed the basis of our founding legend ever since the first colonists stepped foot off the Mayflower and pushed westwards. My definition is a mixture of both; the ideals of hard work and being able to work towards the lifestyle you desire is central, but the material aspect cannot be ignored since a certain standard of living and income level is required if one wants to actually pursue their dreams and not be subjected to the constraints of poverty. Today the very
"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand" (Truman). This could not be more true. The United States of America symbolizes so many different things for everyone like hope, prosperity, freedom, and a new beginning. The American Dream is "an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity" and egalitarianism is "a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs" (Merriam-Webster).
In the Declaration of Independence it gives the well-known phrase, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The phrase gives a couple of examples of the “unalienable rights” which the Declaration says have been given to all human beings by their Creator, and which governments are created to protect. So freedom also gives us the right to life, liberty, and the ability to pursue what makes us as individuals happy in this life. Freedom can also be recognized as the freely given right to the practice of Religion. The First Amendment to the U.S Constitution says, “Everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or
What are the most famous and influential words in American history? Most Americans should be able to recognize this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: “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.” The Americans’ wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776 in order to free themselves from the hands of Great Britain, a nation whose government supported inequality and oppression. The Declaration of Independence also helped establish America’s government. The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Jefferson. In the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote in a list of ideals that he believed that the government should have.