The Declaration of Independence

2_01Revolutionary_Ideas Alex Wasko 4-20-13 Mr. Walsh The Declaration of Independence|Use this panel to provide a paragraph overview of the purpose and structure of the Declaration of Independence.The Declariation of Independence is a statement adopted by the Contenial Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britan, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they now formed a new nation the United States of America.|Popular sovereignty is the principle that the legitimacy of the government depends on the will or consent of its people.“When in the corse of human events it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature,s god entitle them ,a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel to the separation.|
The Declaration of Independence essentially stated that the social contract that the colony of America had with the government of Great Britain was no longer valid. And, this is in the very first sentence. The social contract that was reflected in the Declaration was as a sign of enforcing Democracy.|Natural rights are rights not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government, and therefore universal and inalienable rights. Individual rights are rights held by individual people; even if they are group-differentiated, what most rights are, they remain individual rights if the right-holders are the individuals themselves.|The only problem with the Declaration of Independence is the "all men are created equal" line. If they had meant "men" to be generic and apply to all people, it would be ok, but they clearly didn't. They didn't give women the right to vote or anything