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The Value Of Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness, By Thomas Jefferson

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The Value Of Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness, By Thomas Jefferson
John Locke, famous political philosopher, once stated, “All mankind… being equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, happiness, or possessions”. From this one possibly could discover a basis for the three most infamous rights of all history, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but when Jefferson quilled in these famous declarations of the rights of humans worldwide, what precisely did he intend them to say? Jefferson’s Declaration from almost a quarter of a millennium ago continues to mold the process in which America governs itself and its citizens. Therefore, it is beneficial to study these and determine what they signify to us personally and altogether. Firstly, the entirety of the quote must be examined to fully understand these rights. Jefferson eloquently penned, “We [Americans] hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. When Jefferson described these rights as self-evident, he clarified …show more content…
Without this God-given right, nothing else matters, without life a person’s right of liberty or pursuit of happiness come without purpose. To understand what the right of life guarantees, one must comprehend what life is. According to Merriam Webster, life is the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body. Although in thought it sounds simple, this definition explains what the right of life guarantees, living. The Declaration states that people have an unalienable right to keep living. One issue in which this right is debated is abortion. Specifically, if unborn peoples are granted this right. Whichever side of the debate people lay, the right of life must be protected for all people, because if that right is taken away, no other freedom
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