Thomas Paine's Rights of Man Essay

In Rights of Man, Thomas Paine extols America for its unique attributes of harmony, freedom, liberty, and diversity. These attributes intertwine together and serve as a recipe for one unified country based on privileges and rights for all Americans. Paine’s image of America was slightly skewed in the late 18th century, but holds true especially in today’s day and age. Over the past two centuries, change and reform have transformed the nation into one which provides equality to all regardless of color, sex, or background. Slowly but surely, citizens have fought for and won freedoms which define this country. I believe that Paine’s portrayal of America wasn’t right then, but it is now. After countless struggles, Americans have been able to expose the equal principles of society which Paine admires. In the past, African Americans have had to endure many hardships because of the color of their skin. One might ask, “Why did the Blacks have to sit on the back of the bus and attend different schools than Whites did? Aren’t all Americans equal?” As recently as sixty years ago, that wasn’t the case. Frustrated and fed up with the discrimination of African Americans, Martin Luther King Jr. led the Civil Rights Movement to quell the racial prejudice that encompassed America. Civil Rights activists kept rallying because they felt American citizen deserves to be treated fairly and to have as equal of an opportunity as any other person regardless of their background; The “Rights of Man.” Just as Paine advocated the “cordial unison” of America, African Americans advocated the integration of blacks and whites. Now, they finally have what they’ve been fighting for: equality for all people, whether they are white, black, brown, or yellow. In today’s world, African American history has been made with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Since George Washington, there has never been an African American president, let alone the possibility of one. American