The rights of the people | Teen Ink

The rights of the people

January 14, 2008
By Anonymous

What Matters Essay

The rights of the people

All my life I have been told to be thankful to live in a free country where I could do what I want in life and say what I want to. I was told that many people do not share the luxury that I do, and that many battles have been fought over the rights of the people. As I grow older I realize just how important those rights are, and I find that most of the rights listed in the constitution are based on three principle ideas: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights were kept in mind when our founding fathers wrote America’s constitution and no matter how many times our Congress changes the constitution, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have never altered.

Life is everything and anything, and no matter where you go on earth that is the one constant thing you see. Many amendments are listed protecting the right to life, and according to the constitution in America no one has the right to take away life. I know that by living in America I have the right to live and be free without anybody taking that away. I know that by studying America’s history, our government built this country on core ideas that were lessons learned from past experiences. In history, people would get killed for ridiculous reasons, and other people would act like the lives of others were insignificant. Our founding fathers knew this was wrong, so they made a right to be alive. People today sometimes forget that life is a gift you only get once, and more and more people are dying each day because their government doesn’t like them, America was built to defend itself against that ever happening.

Liberty is the freedom from control so you can live the way you choose, and liberty is a spirit that everyone has, and will fight for. I understand that in some places of the world that Liberty is an unknown word, but I also understand Liberty is what many Americans fought and bled for. Liberty is defined as freedom from control. With Liberty no one person or government can tell me how to live my life. If you look at the world as a whole, Liberty is a pretty new concept the world is just beginning to grasp. For centuries nations and kingdoms were under tyrannous rule of a monarchy or dictatorship. Not only was America one of the first democratic countries, but they also helped spread the idea of democracy around the world. Liberty is what allows me to speak freely without causing trouble, and the freedom to practice what religion I want. Liberty is liberty no matter what race or color you are, that is why it is one of the most important rights in America, and the world

The pursuit of happiness is the ability to do what makes me happy. No person or government can force you to do something if you don’t enjoy it, and many people throughout the world don’t have the right to happiness, but it is one of the most important things in keeping a successful government operating. I am told that I could be whatever I want to be when I grow up. I realize that I am told this often because a couple generations ago, this wasn’t the case. Many people were forced to take up a career that their family thought was best for them, and they didn’t have much of a choice in life. More recently opportunities have arisen and the right to the pursuit of happiness could finally be fulfilled. The Founding Fathers realized this almost 200 years ago and made it a right to always be part of the constitution, for they knew that the day would come when people were free to do what made them happy.

The rights of the people is something that was established many years ago. Although it was very important then, it is just as, if not even more, important now. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the core foundation of our country. It protects us from all the people in the world wishing to dominate and control everybody, and although not many people really know how important it is, I make sure I don’t take those rights for granted. For when I look at how they came to be rights, I see they once never existed, and the people suffered. To me the rights of the people are what matters because it affects everybody, and is almost everywhere, and without them the world would be a cruel and unfair place.

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