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Ryan Strausbaugh
Mr. Buescher
U.S. History, period 3
17 September, 2014
The Most Important Ideal in the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence includes many important ideals, without them, America
would not be what it is today. This will show many of the reasons as to why one specific ideal is
more important than the others. That ideal being equality which can be supported by several
quotes, actual events that have happened, and comparing it's worth to the other ideals.
To start things off, a simple quote, "All men are created equal." This may have only
applied to white males who owned property at the time it was said, but now it applies to all of
mankind. Another important quote said by the colonists was "Taxation without representation."
This was said because the colonists felt as though the taxes they were paying weren't fair, and the
taxes were more than the British citizens were paying. This quote is from the Declaration of
Independence, although it has been slightly modified, ... we hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' that to secure
these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed. This was a segment of the Declaration of Independence that was rewritten to include
women in the inalienable rights written in the Declaration, this would eventually lead to more
equality across America. Next, actual cases of equality will be shown.

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This shows how a family from outside the United States is treated here, "... our two
daughter are just finishing their university education at Stanford and Michigan which would have
never been possible without this country's belief in equality." This shows that America is willing
to show equality to a family from Vietnam and that family was given the same rights as everyone
who lived in America. During the American Revolution, African Americans fought with the soon
to be Americans against the British. This was the beginning of African American equality as they
were equal, fighting for the same cause as the soon to be Americans. The soon to be Americans
fought for all four of the Ideals in the Declaration of Independence. However, without equality,
the other three ideals wouldn't be fully true.
Unalienable rights are rights that cannot be taken away from un. However, without
equality those rights have already been taken away from those who aren't being treated as equals.
Consent of the governed is the ability to have the people choose who gets to be the "ruler" of the
country. Without equality it wouldn't truly be the people that choose who get elected... even with
equality the government can still pull the strings on who gets elected next, sadly. Lastly, we have
the right to alter or abolish the government if necessary. Once again, without equality, it would
only be altered or abolished if it didn't benefit those who had power over other people. Now to
tie all of this together.
comparing the worth of the ideals, events related to the ideal, and quotes are all things
that support equality being the most important ideal of the four. in conclusion, equality is the
most important ideal because if it wasn't there, America would be just about the same as
everywhere else at the time, and without equality, some parts of the world wouldn't have started
to adopt equality as an ideal.