The stories of the founding of the United States is legendary in many regards. History places it that America was found by a group of farmers who had local political experience. This group came together in one accord and in arms to go against the monarch and tyrant to become a self-governed state. In the words of these men, “all men are created equal,” a phrase that natural elicited men and women to risk their lives for freedom . However, there is a lurking contradiction in the affirmation of the founding fathers that all men were created with equal opportunities considering the many years that they kept African in the York of slavery. This aspect puts into sharp focus the integrity of the founding fathers with the question asked
Most people may not know what America’s five founding ideals are. For those who don’t know they are, Liberty, Opportunity, Democracy, Rights, and Equality. The original colonists worked hard to give us these ideals. A lot of the time the people who live in the USA take it for granted. They don’t think about how the colonists worked to get us these rights. The colonial period shaped America’s five founding ideals through hard work and perseverance.
The founding fathers believed that the government’s purpose was to secure the unalienable rights of American citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by protecting them against violations by foreign enemies. Although, the progressives believed that the purpose of the government was to give people the benefit of the programs the government have, while making the people more socially responsible.
What does it mean to be “free”? Freedom is where you have the ability to do whatever you want without the restraint of others. Achieving freedom was the desire and goal that colonists and revolutionaries pursued throughout the Revolutionary War and many believed was a god given right to man. But the desire for freedom came with its and struggles and freedom did not come easy. In fact, many were not willing to fight for freedom due their fear of British government and their rule over the colonies. It was not until Patrick Henry, an orator and lawyer from Virginia, convinced them to do otherwise in his Speech at the Virginia Convention. Since this during the Age of Reason, logic was commonly used and helped persuade the masses by using rational thinking and deductive reasoning. Patrick Henry used logos to win over the colonists and change their overall opinions on the British.
Liberty has the definition of the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views. This means the right to be free in a country. America had trouble with finding how liberty can be a part of the country. The fight for liberty was difficult to obtain because America had the break from Great Britain, needed to build a country from scratch, and come together as a country.
The traditional American idealism of the founding fathers portrays them as patriotic freedom fighters. However, the context of a historical narrative is relative to the perspective from which it is given. For this reason, there are other perspectives in which the founding fathers can be characterized. From the British perspective, the founding fathers were not patriots, but rather seditionist, and insurrectionist. It is even arguable that the founding fathers from a modern perspective could be labeled as domestic terrorists. But is this a fair accusation? To begin with this question, it must first be acknowledged that labels like terrorist and patriot have a relative nature that goes beyond the confines of denotation. Be that as it may, in terms of a stricter understanding of the designations of terrorist and patriot, there are clear distinctions. In light of these distinctions, the founding fathers fit into the definition of patriot more so than the definition of terrorist.
Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. The foundation of America is freedom. Freedom from Britain. However, the freedom is limited to white males who own property. When colonists started to immigrate to America, they wanted to escape from under the rule of Britain. Colonists felt that they were entitled to explore this newly found land, despite that the land was already occupied by people we now know as Native Americans. American society, which valued freedom so much, could support slavery and other forms of coercion because freedom is only applied to white males who owned property, aka the elites, because of the Constitution, paternalism, and Manifest destiny.
I have listed several things that are important to me including freedom of speech, embracing diversity, appreciating America’s natural beauty, and the fundamentals of equal opportunity. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather just some of the ideals most important to me as I think about what it means to be an American. It’s likely a list that may change over time, but yet one that can tie back to the fundamental ideals our founding fathers seemed to cherish themselves. Finally, I would be remiss to not acknowledge my sincere appreciation for all those brave men and women who have fought to make these freedoms possible. By virtue of their personal sacrifice they might possibly best define what it truly means to be an American and that we are the land of the free because of the
Today, our founding fathers are rolling in their graves. July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams believed would be “the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” It was on this date that the newly formed nation of the United States of America formally declared independence from the British Empire. This date marked what would be the beginning of a long and bloody struggle for independence and, more importantly, the natural rights given to us by God. They fought this war knowing that it was very likely that they would all meet their end by British hands, yet they kept fighting. Why? They continued to fight because they knew in their hearts that the natural God given rights of every man, woman, and child were a cause more valuable than any
Ratifying the American Constitution in 1788, was the start of creating an effective national government where more issues arise especially with the Founding Fathers. They believed to govern unified people that possessed virtue and natural aristocracy would govern the country in the public’s interest. However, that did not happen automatically due to the illogicality views of not only the Founding Fathers but the state representatives. There were different opinions on the virtue of men and women, women were supposedly more domestic and men were sophisticated in public. One of the biggest arguments between the Founding Fathers is how the government is run; Republican is supporting a French radical republicanism or Federalists pro-commerce a democracy.
The constitution today is used in a loose interpretation. Although it is questioned by many Democratic republicans who believe that the constitution should be interpreted in a stricter manner. While the Federalists debate the government should have a loose construction. Both parties fear that the united states will be in danger without their views.
As slavery became free in the north this soon disrupted the founding fathers beliefs of what slavery should be and this dismantled the nations stability to the core. Slaves were always beaten for any punishment to keep them in line. The founding fathers like this due to they can control the slaves out of fear. By corporal punishment spreading across America to the whites it was also the biggest thing slaves had that they were valuable to a point more Valuable than some white people which the founding fathers hated. They hated this because According to Russell he names several slaves that had killed their masters for over beating them and the resistant slaves a lot of the time was allowed to live sometime they weren’t even beaten (Pg.61-62).
Compelling: a powerful word, one that means many things such as, not able to be resisted. In the Declaration of Independence, paragraph three, sentence one, speaks of how all men are created equal as well as our unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit
Liberty is dependent on the idea of natural law when creating a government system. Many Americans think that liberty and freedom are the same, but in reality, they are not. Freedom is an act that people can do without limitation; liberty means to have freedom or rights with limitations and boundaries. The idea of liberty comes from the natural law according to John Locke. The natural law is the law that everyone follows under whatever type of government. This concept of the natural law originates from God 's law. The concept of liberty is very dependent on the belief of natural law when creating a government system. In theory, the natural law comes from the state of nature and this helps many political philosophers create laws for a successful
Freedom means the power or right to act, speak, or think without restraint, and the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. Freedom is the correction to do what he/she wants, live life, and eat what he/she wants. How do we live free? We live free by not judging other people’s freedom rights. Everyone has their own rights. Freedom is to be respectful. People should get to do what they want freely. The western civilization guaranteed freedom for it is own people, and occupied poor nations and deprived their people from their rights, including freedom. Say for instance, if someone goes to prison, they no longer have freedom even when they’re out of prison. So they have no right to live a free healthy life depending on how long they’re in prison.