Constitution Para 2 Analysis

Thomas Jefferson was not an ordinary man. This was true then and is true even today. He was a visionary of his time as he foresaw the great changes that were going to impact not only his land but the whole world. One needs to understand the circumstances that led the pilgrims to come to America in the first place. The British monarchy had long oppressed its people. To the monarchs they were merely their subjects. Hence the kings and queens would treat them not as human beings but like a piece of property they own. Their “subjects” hand no rights, other than the elite and the wealthy land owners.

The British American Colonies received about the same treatment. Hence it was the same monarchy who ruled over the colonies much the same way. Thomas Jefferson had envisioned for America a land where all men would receive equal treatment. As Thomas Jefferson writes “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable right” (Patterson p. A-1) . Jefferson is referring to the john lockian idea that people have natural rights “inalienable right” in other word rights that human beings possessed in the state of nature, before any government was formed, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These rights can not be separated from the people, because the government exists by the people and for the people.

Jefferson stated that government existed to secure these rights for the people. If the government fails to secure these rights or neglects its duty in protecting these rights or becomes an instrument in destroying these rights then the people have the right to abolish such a government. Then the people must institute a new government which would safeguard these inalienable rights. Such a government must be organized in a way that the people feel that their rights and safety would be protected best. Here Jefferson was laying down