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Declaration of Independence

To begin with, the declaration of independence is with no doubt the most significant as well as influential document in American history. This important document originated from Thomas Jefferson in the year 1776 and has shaped various aspects of U.S politics for over 240 years now. In the declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson captures four major values as well as ideals; Equality, Consent of the Governed, the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty as well as the Pursuit of Happiness. These ideals are the cornerstone of the democracy enjoyed by U.S citizens (Tsesis, 2012). They are explained in the subsequent paragraphs especially how they relate with the American society today.

1. Equality

The essence of equality is most profound in the U.S more than any other nation in the world. The level of equality in the U.S is much advanced as compared to other countries such as Iraq as well as Pakistan. It is reflected in the advanced democratic elections process that guarantees all Americans of all races, genders, ethnic backgrounds as well as social status, have the same opportunity to elect the leaders they want (Tsesis, 2012).

This is a marked improvement from the status of elections in the past years. Before the Declaration of Independence, white superiority was rife such that only Americans of white-origins had the right to vote. Furthermore, only men who had property had the power to make political decisions. Over the passage of time, developments such as the 15th Amendment empowered African-Americans to participate in the election process. Also, the 19th Amendment empowered women to be voters as well. All these developments are a testament of how much the ideal of equality amongst all American has been incorporated in the political processes (Armitage, 2009).

2. Consent of the Governed

This ideal means for a government to be governed well, then this government should first be constituted by seeking consent from the people. The essence of this consent is that the people get to influence what their government does as well as those who form the government. It is important for the people to decide how their government is constituted as eventually; the same government influence their fate. It is this consent that justifies government activities such as taxation (Armitage, 2009).

3. Certain Unalienable Rights

This ideal is an amalgamation of various unquestionable rights. These rights have their backing in the dictates of natural and common law. They include, the right to life and the right to liberty. The Declaration of Independence also captures the pursuit of happiness as another form of unalienable rights. This means that no human being or any authority in the world has the power to deny any person the right to life, or the right to liberty. It is this ideal that liberated ethnic minorities such as African-Americans from slavery and white-supremacy ideologies (Armitage, 2009).

4. The right to alter or abolish the government

It can be argued that the most important ideal protected in the declaration of independence is the power to alter or dissolve the government. This ideal should be exercised at any point in time when the people feel that their government is becoming destructive to the general happiness and welfare of the society. Hence, what Jefferson envisioned is the electorate having the power to reform their government through for instance recalling their elected representatives in the various levels of government (Armitage, 2009).

References

Armitage, D. (2009). The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Harvard University Press.

Tsesis, A. (2012). For Livery and Equality: The Life and Times of the Declaration of Independence. Oxford University Press.