Distribution of Power Distribution of Power in the United States and avoiding a tyrranical society based on the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution.

"There is no longer Jews or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus". (Galatians 3:28) While no two people are created exactly alike, Americans have always been striving for equality. Two of the most important documents in American history, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, reflect this belief that the source of our equality as humans is Jesus Christ. It is obvious in these documents that our nation's founders were deeply concerned with equality, the distribution of power, and preventing a tyranny in the new republic; however, despotism and a "ladder of authority" were still apparent in our nation's history. Misconceptions about the early period in American history, frequently offered as counterexamples to the current dangerous and despondent American government, too often leave out or talk down mistakes made by our ideal government.

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United States Declaration of Independence

The belief that the rights and rules among humans were not the deliberate fabrication of any legislator, but the direct commandments from God, most likely had a strong influence on Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, along with the rest of the nation's founders, believed that the power of the people came directly from God and the powers of government came from the people. In the Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, Jefferson stated "...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". (MC 45) These rights existed before the origin of government and, according to Jefferson, it was the primary function of government to secure these rights.

The petitioning of the Declaration of Independence freed Americans not only from Great Britain's rule, but also alerted the nation's founders of the...