Marie Dorline Desir

English 1121

Prof. Penner

The Declaration of Independence is made up of a few paragraphs. The purpose of each paragraph within the document is to tell the readers different things.

The first section of the Constitution is called the Preamble. It was written to inform readers what this document is all about. Its purpose was to say that the thirteen colonies of the United States of America were severing their connection with England. It also tell us who the Constitution was written for. It was written for us, We The People. I think the first part was written like a mini-informative essay. It was a call to action saying, we have no choice but, we will gain our independence from England.

The second section describes to the reader what our rights are as individual people and as a collective whole. This includes the ideas that all men are created equal, and that we have the right of life. Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are the ideologies behind our new government. These rights are permanent and can not be taken away from us. The writers of the Constitution wrote this section to stir up controversy and could be taken in a variety of different ways.

The third section was based on facts. It listed all the wrongs that Great Britain had done to the colonies. It tells us why we must secede from the King of England. Some of the reasons mentioned included imposing taxes without our consent and cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. “Let facts be submitted to the candid world” (paragraph 2). This section was meant to tell the world what horrible events occurred between England and the colonies.

The last section concludes by saying that the United colonies are now Free and Independent States and that we we will no longer follow the rules made by the States of Britain. It was written to show that the colonies now have the authority to do and act as other free countries do and act. This included establishing trade, declaring war and peace. This section was written as a proposal of a solution.

Randy Barnett writes that the” consent of governed” is a different idea from protecting rights. If you emphasize consent and de-emphasize right, government gets empowered to do anything in the name of people, so long as it can claim the “consent of the government”, which is never going to be the actual consent of each and every person. I think this relates to the issue that is going on right now concerning the wearing of masks during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some people believe that wearing masks are an infringement of their individual rights and others believe that masks should be mandated in public. There are no federal regulations concerning this matter. It is up to each individual state or each county to determine what people should do. Meanwhile, I believe the issue of wearing a mask does not violate a person’s individual rights. The government has the right to protect its people from harm and they should mandate that all people wear masks for the safety of humanity. .