Joe Najdek RR3

The Declaration of Independence is a powerful document that is one of the reasons why we live in a free country. The most important line in the entire passage is the one that bothers me the most. “…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” The word certain tells me that the government will always be able to render which rights will be given to the people of this country. Why aren’t all rights given to citizens? I also don’t believe that all men, and women, are created equal. Who is to say if a baby has abusive parents or is born with a defect? I could sit here and write about how this document declared our independence but we all already know that. Jefferson lists the many wrong-doings of the King of Britain to make a generalization and I think that simplistic writing could be effective in today’s society. If someone in 2003 had listed all the negative results of George W. Bush being elected, maybe he wouldn’t have won in 2004. Finally the thing that interests me the most is that delegates from South Carolina and Georgia got Jefferson’s anti-slavery comments taken off his own document. It is interesting to think about if slavery would’ve changed if it were mentioned in the declaration.

- Joe Najdek