Yet few Americans choose to take the opportunity to learn and understand those defining principles that the Founding Fathers laid forth in that first and all-important document. If contemporary Americans were to simply read the words and follow the principles that reside within Declaration of Independence, the nation as a whole might be philosophically aimed in an entirely different direction...the one for which it was first intended.

The Declaration of Independence was written as a means of accusing the English King of wrongs before the world as a jury.

There are literally thousands of laws on record within the United States. So many, it is nearly inconceivable that the average American could possibly know them all, or live out his or her life without breaking at least one of them. Yet we are obviously, as voter turnout suggests and Jefferson wrote, "disposed to suffer." However, Jefferson also warned that this disposition would only reach to a certain point before a people will provide "...new guards for their future security."

The three basic rights highlighted in the Declaration of Independence have proven to be a cornerstone of American ideology. "...among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Jefferson, although a regretted owner of slaves, was fully aware that these rights would expand as time went on. This is why he chose the phrase "among these." Much as our knowledge of natural phenomena has increased with better instrumentation, so too has our knowledge of what constitutes the basic rights of all individuals. The phenomena have not grown in number, only our knowledge of them has. The same is true with natural rights. The United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides an impressive list that literally dwarfs the triad proposed by Jefferson, and certainly encompasses rights that never would have been conceived in the eighteenth century. And still the U.N.'s Declaration would fall short of the standards of contemporary people today. (Adler 35)

Adler, Mortimer J., and William Gorman. The American Testament. New York:

The concept of Life in Jefferson's triad reiterates the importance of an individual's right to lead his or her own life as they choose. Why does this not extend to those who wish to poison their bodies with narcotics or immorally pay for sexual favors? Admittedly, these behaviors are not what much of society would view as desirable, and certainly the majority of the voting public would agree. For the very reasons found in this current debate, everyone within a democracy must allow their voice, and their vote, to be heard.

Writing and Editing of the Document that marked the Birth of the United

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying it was "an appeal to the tribunal of the world." (Adler 23) But under which law was the King to be accused? Obviously not English law, the very law they were putting down. The laws of an independent and sovereign nation would likewise have ill effect. Jefferson instead chose to use a law John Locke had first proposed called natural law, which had become the very fuel enflaming the colonies. (Munves 13) These are rights believed to be the common property of all individuals, regardless of nationality, and are older indeed than any government.

According to the Declaration, "all men are created equal." At first glance this may seem an impossibly optimistic statement, yet it does prove trues upon later examination. The average person can merely walk down the street and have an experience in which they are clearly not equal to someone, regardless of whether they happ

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Approximate Word count = 2070
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)