Distinctive American
To be an American shows that people can get the freedom they didn’t have in their home country and can be themselves without being suppressed by their government. In some places women have to stay in their homes and either get put in jail or killed if they get caught. When you look at the denotative meaning of the American dream it says ”the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.” this denotative meaning helps create the bases of you’re connotative meaning. The connotative meaning is “where everyone has equality and can reach their dreams no matter their race, age, and past.” this is different from everyone else’s definition but it all started from the original meaning. As an American the people have the freedom to marry, the freedom to rights, and the Freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The people in America have fought and killed to build their own nation where all are treated equally and have the freedom that allows them to speak their mind.
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The people have the freedom and the right to marry whoever they want no matter if their of a different race or of the same gender as them.The freedom to marry used to be for only diffrent sex couples but now in the world it doesnt have to be diffrent sex couples but same sex couples as well. In the constitution it states that “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”(Amendment 14,Section 1,Rights Guaranteed) it declared that all people born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens so the citizenship of African Americans are also established.The quote from the 14 amendment in the constitution wasn’t originally for marrying but in 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court apllied it to marriage when a Virginia law banned interracial marriage.In a interacial case in Virginia it stated “the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State.”(Loving V. Virginia) this help other cases of other racial marriages or same sex marriages.This was a direct quote from the Loving v. Virginia trial that was ruled in favor of the interatial couple. The freedom to marry has been questioned for years but at first only diffrent sex and same racial couples could marry, but now diffrent races and same sex couples are being accepted or slowly accepted. So not only do Americans have the freedom to marry but they also have the freedom to rights.
The freedom to rights has allowed us to live freely and to protect our rights as individuals. In the constitution its stated “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”(Amendment 5 Rights of a person) this guarantees the right to a fair trial and protects you from being held for a crime unless it has been proven correctly by the police. In the bill of rights the rights that protect adults also protect children which shows that everyone has the freedom to use their rights.The constitution also stated that “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” (Amendment 9 Unenumerated Rights) the purpose was to dismiss the notion that the rights not named specifically in the constitution didn’t exist.This quote means that the rights of the people are not limited to the rights in the constitution, which shows that the government cant take away your rights that aren’t listed in the constitution. The rights of a person aren’t limited to those in the constitution as the ninth amendment does not specify or list what rights are retained by the people. The rights of a person also include the Freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that is also a well known right.
The Freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a well known phrase apart of the declaration of independence.The Declaration Of Independence states that “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.”(Lines 8-11) this line had helped end slavery so everyone was free and had rights to their own person.This quote directly from the Declaration of Independence shows that as Americans we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the Declaration of Independence it also stated that “Laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” which shows that if the government gets out of hand the people of America have the right to take back power from the government.This supports the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by it being the foundation to the principles of America. The rights to them as an American are essential to the foundation of what it means to be Anmerican and the American Dream. The freedom to use the rights guaranteed to America are in the declaration of independence and in the national anthem.
The people have the right to use anything that helps their definition of being an American as an American is many different things. The American dream which is apart of an American shows that the people have the freedom to marry, the freedom to rights, and the Freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which has and will always be apart of America. The process of defining a personal definition of what it means to be an American was an adventure though others definitions to create a personal one that has meaning. The material in the units read helped define a personal definition as they all had their own experience that was different from each other in America but had similar emotions that evoke the reader to make their own. A personal definition of what it is to be an American is always different as we all have different experiences that help the path to that definition.
Works cited
The Declaration Of Independence
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
The Constitution of the United States
Loving V. Virginia Case
https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/loving-v-virginia
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