In a brief (250 to 1000 words) well-written essay address the following:
The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution asserts that the Founders were driven by a desire to “secure the blessings of liberty.†This phrase echoes the Declaration of Independence, which asserted 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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.â€
Explain what the Framers meant by “securing the blessings of liberty†and how this idea related to their understanding of the role and structure of government. Be sure to explain how this idea was rooted both in American political history and in American political culture
Read the prompt carefully and focus your essay on what is specifically being asked. In your essay you should
• Explain what the Framers meant when they used the term “securing the blessings of liberty†and note how freedoms were/are protected (such as in the Bill of Rights)
• Connect your discussion to the suspicion of government and/or the preference for limited government expressed by the Founders, with reference to the roots of this desire in the American colonial experience (such as the restrictions on the rights imposed by the British) and, possibility, the Enlightenment idea of natural rights and Locke and Montesquieu’s limited government.
Discuss American political culture and the basic tenets of American democracy, and how these suggest that government should go a long way in “securing the blessings of liberty’, explaining how the Framers were very concerned with personal liberty and political equality and connecting these ideas with some of the following: popular consent, majority rule, popular sovereignty, notions of individualism, and religious freedom.
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