Dezaray Vazquez

September 17,2016
3rd period

Declaration Essay
Throughout centuries there has been many changes to the government and the way that
people live but the one thing that has never changed was what the founding fathers have
created for us. One of them being the Declaration of Independence. The second sentence of the
Declaration of Independence states We 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.-- That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed,-- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these end, it is the
Right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing it powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to affect their Safety and Happiness. In other words, every man has the right of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that has been given to them by god. The second half to the
second sentence means that people will be governed. If the government tries to be too powerful
it is the responsibility of the people to alter or abolish it. Then they should replace with a new
government that they feel is best fit for the role. As a nation we are effectively honoring the right
of the government but we are not honoring the right of the first half of the second sentence.
An example of the nation not honoring the right of the pursuit of happiness and all men
created equal would be to the LGBT community. According to http://gaymarriage.procon.org/ it
states Prior to their decision, same-sex marriage was already legal in 37 states and
Washington DC, but was banned in the remaining 13. In other words, getting married to the
same sex was legal in 37 states but the remaining states did not allow for the same sex to get
married. As a nation they did not honor the right of the pursuit of happiness because if a man
and a woman want to get married and they are happy then they can but if a man and a man
want to get married and they are happy they can not. This is not allowing any male or female
who wants to get married to the same gender to pursue their happiness by getting married. The
same source stated On Sep. 21, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the federal Defense of
Marriage Act into law which defined marriage at the federal level as between a man and a
woman. The federal DOMA statute ensured that no state would be forced to recognize gay
marriages performed in other states and prevented same-sex couples from receiving federal
protections and benefits given to married heterosexual couples. In other terms, President Bill
Clinton signed a law that proposed that the government should not recognize same sex
marriage couples for the purpose of federal laws or programs. Same sex marriage couples
could not receive the same health benefits and protections that one man and one woman can.
As a nation this is not honoring the rights of people because gay and lesbians could not get the
same rights and benefits as a male and a female couple making the LGBT community not equal

to straight people. Finally on July 26, 2016 it was passed that in all 50 states same sex marriage
is protected by the US constitution. In the end this right was honored because now all men can
be happy with whom every they choose to marry and equal.
An example of the nation honoring the right of to alter or to abolish a form of government
would be towards Texas governor Rick Perry. According to C
bs news they state A grand jury
indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a
threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption. This is showing that
Rick Perry has been removed from being governor of Texas because he has threatened to deny
funding for the state prosecutors. As a nation we are doing pretty good at exercising the right of
abolishing or altering a form of government because when Rick Perry was doing something bad
citizens of the US took the decision of their right to be on a jury and found him guilty of vetoing
the fund for state prosecutors. Another example would be the conviction of McDonell. C
nn news
states McDonnell, once a rising star in Republican politics, was convicted on federal corruption
charges in 2014. He was found guilty of violating the law when he received, gifts, money and
loans from Jonnie R. Williams, the CEO of a Virginia-based company, in exchange for official
acts seen as favorable to Williams and his business. In other words, Bob McDonnell was found
guilty for receiving funds from Jonnie R.Williams and giving Williams things needed to help his
business. The nation in regards to this is honoring the right because when they have seen
McDonnell being corrupt they took actions to stop him. Although his case was unanimously
thrown out by the Supreme Court people have exercised their right to alter and to abolish this
form of government even if they were not as successful.
Finally, the nation is not honoring the right of all men being created equal. There are
multiple examples of people being deprived of their equality and right to live due to inequality
between police officers and african americans. Problems like these are present in Chicago
everyday. Citizens are trying to show that the inequality and the deprivation of life are important
but they have gotten in trouble for standing up. According to N
y Times Players from the Liberty
and the Indiana Fever spoke out in dismay Thursday after the W.N.B.A. fined them for wearing
T-shirts intended to raise awareness in the aftermath of recent shootings by and of the police.
In other words, women basket players have gotten fined for wearing a shirt having #black lives
matter #dallas5 because they were not in the proper dress code during warm ups. As a nation
we are not honoring the right for all people to be equal because when athletes stand up for a
certain cause due to inequality they are getting fined by the league for not wearing proper attire.
We are also not honoring that right because when ever someone tries to stand up they get
judged or even get put into the middle of situation and end up losing their rights too.

In the end there has still been progress being made since the Declaration of
Independence was written. As a nation we have overcame segregation, the ability to marry who
we please and many more things. Overall the most important was to establish that the
Declaration of Independence does not exclude anyone from those terms and we all have the
same rights as one another. Although today we say we are all equal, there are some groups
who really are not equal, such as African Americans. An improvement that we can make as a
nation is to include everybody to be equal one step at a time and to end police brutality.

Works Cited
By Reducing the Differences in Opportunities and Experiences between Gay and Heterosexual
People, This Unique Culture May Cease to Exist. Lesbian Activist M.V. Lee Badgett, PhD,
Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, Stated That for Many Gay Activists. "Gay Marriage ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.
Mather, Victor. "Players Criticize W.N.B.A. For Fines Over Shirts Worn to Underscore
Shootings." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 July 2016. Web. 17 Sept.
2016.
"Supreme Court Vacates Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's Conviction." C
NN. Cable News
Network. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.
"Texas Gov. Rick Perry Indicted for Abuse of Power." C
BSNews. CBS Interactive. Web. 17
Sept. 2016.