Read the following and answer: Which document most successfully integrated the i

Question

Read the following and answer: Which document most successfully integrated the ideas of the Enlightenment and why?

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp

US Constitution and Bill of Rights http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

Haiti Constitutions, 1801 https://www.marxists.org/history/haiti/1801/constitution.htm

Haiti Constitution 1805 http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/earlyhaiti/1805-const.htm

Explanation / Answer

The Declaration of Independence of the United States proclaims the idea of liberty, equality and sovereignty.In concise and elegant rhetoric, it puts enlightenment ideas into political practice.

There are many Enlightenment ideas in the declaration of Independence. One is the idea that all people are entitled to certain rights just of being human. Second is belief that goverments legtimacy comes from the consent of the governed.Finally, the Declaration of Independence incorporates the Enlightenment idea that a government s main purpose is to protect the rights of the people.Three examples of this are:-

First , the Declaration of Independence says that people have certain rights just because they are people. These rights are not given to them by the government and cannot be taken away from them.they have this rights because they are human.This is a major idea of the Enlightenment.

Second, the Declaration of Independence says that government is only legitimate if people consent to be ruled by it. It is possible for government to force its will on the people, but that government is not a legitimate government and it has no rights to rule the people. They did not beleive that kings had a divine rights to rule. Instead, they believed that governments were legitimate if the people agreed to be ruled by governments.

Finally, the Declaration of Independence says that the only reason to have government is to protect the rights of the people. Enlightenment thinkers did not think that governments should exist to give power to kings. Instead, government should exist to protect their citizens. This is the third Enlightenment idea found in the Declaration of Independence.

The idea that the government owes its existence to the consent of the governed and that once the government goes against this is called social contract, according to their philosophy , people give up some of their rights to the government must still protect individuals natural rights. Another Enlightenment idea is that people have the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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