To be American means to be free. Americans’ beliefs consist of many freedoms like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. These are evident in the founding documents like the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and The Articles of Confederation. Some of the values of Americans are equality, liberty, and self-government. These values are told through the Declaration of Independence. Americans used these values and beliefs to justify breaking away from Britain. These values and beliefs were always important to the American people. Different texts like The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The Constitution show beliefs and values such as equality, freedom, and liberty were always important. Although we are far from obtaining some of these values they are still important are values and beliefs that every person should believe in.
The Declaration of Independence explained why freedom, equality, and liberty were important to the American people and why they wanted to break away from Britain. In the Declaration of Independence, it explains how Britain was holding these unalienable rights from the American people. Several times it explains how these rights were being violated by Britain. This document was written because the American people believed they could get these rights by breaking away from Britain. These values were obviously very important to the American people because they went to war for these rights.
The Constitution has many articles aimed at equality and freedom. The first 10 amendments or The Bill of Rights guarantee the American people specific rights pertaining to freedom and liberty. Although the amendments that guaranteed equal rights didn’t come until a lot later they are still in The Constitution. This document makes it evident that the values of freedom, equality, and liberty are very important.
The Articles of Confederation wanted equality, freedom, and liberty for the whole country but was more focused on states. Under the Articles of Confederation, the states had more power than the central government. Even though states were more powerful than the central government it still guaranteed freedom, liberty, and equality for the American people no matter what state they were in. The Articles of Confederation were not a really effective way to govern the country but it still showed that freedom, equality, and liberty were important and rights everybody should have.
Although equality is mentioned in all these documents and is a big part of American history it still isn’t fully achieved. If everybody had the same rights full equality could be possible. Equality is still an important value and we should still strive to achieve it as a whole country. These 3 documents still show how important these 3 values are and why they are important to the people.
