Human Nature and the Declaration of Independence

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA+, January 1996

download word file, 6 pages 3.0

I would like to show that the view of human nature that is shown in The Declaration of

Independence is taken more from the Bible and that that view is in disagreement with two of the

three esays given in class. The Biblical perspective of man is that he was created by a divine

Creator with a specific plan in mind and made in the image of his Creator. Men are entitled to the

pursuit of happiness but also required by the Laws of Nature and Nature's God to be the just

attendants of the land and of the governed. The Nature of man is sinful so that they must be

governed but those who govern must be accountable to God just as the founding fathers were.

God is Sovereign over men as the final Judge.

The Declaration of Independence is a document co-written by the founding fathers in

order to declare their independence of the Crown of Britain.

They belived this to be within their

rights indowed upon them by their Creator. Believing that they were under religious persecution

and certain forms of 'absolute tyranny' from Britian the founding fathers felt it was necessary to

break the bonds that connected them to the monarchy. Not only did they feel they had the God

given right to do that but they also based their arguments on the workings of governments of the

time and contemporary theories of government of writers and political-social thinkers of their

time.

The three essays that were given to us in class, Politics by Aristotle, Of Commonwealth

by Thomas Hobbes, and Of the Limits of Government by John Locke are all very intersting

essays on how government is supposed to funtion. Although the founding fathers probably read all

three of these essays and simialar philosphical thought...