Camden Central High School 
Camden, Tennessee 
Teacher: Wanda Allen
 

Who are “We the People”? 
By Jessica Terry 
11^th grade

The true Founding Fathers are the brave men who started with an idea of a perfect country and strove to achieve that idea. Though the end result may not be perfect, they at least strove to become perfect. They traveled across the seas on a perilous journey just to achieve the freedoms that we so enjoy today because of them. They strove against unfair taxes and laws that were passed while we had no representation in the making of these laws.

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n order to [rebel] against these laws, they established a separate republic to show the king that they meant business. To do that they first had to state their independence and explain why they were so eager to split away from the mother country that had given birth to their ideals. In the Declaration of Independence, they said that the king of England was taking away their natural rights as stated by John Locke. In the American Creed, as it is now sometimes called, the rights are stated as the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to the pursuit of happiness. It denounced the king and all of his practices and gave us the right as “free and independent states, and that as free and independent states, they [we] have the right to levy war…” This gave us the right to fight for our independence and continues to give us the right as “free and independent states” to defend the freedom that we have been given.

The living Constitution of the United States of America states that our government is a government “of the people, for the people, and by the people” making us the democratic republic that we are today. Without this constitution, which our fifty-five Founding Fathers argued over for four months, we would not have the liberties and rights that we consider to be every day things. The right to a free press is guaranteed in our Constitution, and without that we would not be able to the write opinion columns that are so popular today. Instead we would be writing only the opinion of the government and those that are high enough to influence that outlook.

The Bill of Rights is considered by most to be the center of our government. It was presented by James Madison and passed on September 25, 1789. It states the ten basic rights of any American citizen. The right to bear arms, the right to free speech, and the right to any religion that does not break any law are all protected by this special section of the Constitution. In fact, these basic rights that we still enjoy today, were considered so important that some states would not ratify the Constitution without the promise of a bill of rights to follow. Today we respect those rights as American citizens to the best of our ability and allow all people to exercise their right to believe as they wish and speak as they wish even if it is not the standard way that we have come to completely understand and recognize.

So, who are “We the People”? Is it the American soldiers that go and fight and die [that] the country [may] be preserved? … Is it the local doctor whose right to free speech against the government’s approach to health care is protected by the Constitution that our Founding Fathers wrote? Is it the President whose power to veto laws and keep our country together is wrapped up in the ideas of men long dead? Is it the man at the polls every year that is the first one there to exercise his right to vote…? Is it you whose right to learn to read is provided by the government that was established on that day that men committed high treason and signed the Declaration of Independence? It is all of us and those that have yet to come.

We began our own legacy long ago when [this] government was planted in our native soil by a few wise men, who probably smelled of old paper and wig powder.  [It was] left to grow sheltered by the rules and laws that [these men] left behind. Government truly is a native growth. It can only come from within, from the spirit of the people and the true patriots of our country such as the Founding Fathers who gave us a country to be proud of.

Questions Re: the Required Reading and Certain Current Events

Q1- Explain, in your own words, the three developments in our culture that have contributed to the disorder Professor Huntington senses in the USA today.

He states that multiculturalism undermines efforts at civic education, which I took to mean that because there are more cultures in our society our students cannot learn as well because of these other students from different backgrounds. Instead of seeing it as enriching our education by making us more aware of the similarities and differences in our culture compared to others that we will eventually have to deal with, he sees it as draining our ability to learn about our own. This is something that I don’t understand truly because, isn’t our  own culture itself based on multiculturalism, therefore making his point moot?

The second development that he states is “transnationalism”, which is the loosening and opening of boundaries of communication between people of different countries. How can communication with and understanding of other countries be a bad thing for America. It seems to me that he is stating a policy of isolationism.

The third problem that he states is the “Hispanization of America”, or the fact that most of the immigrants in today’s world who come here are of Hispanic origin and speak Spanish instead of English. He thinks that since we are now teaching our children Spanish, we are losing our American way of life and becoming more and more like Canada.

Q2- Define and discuss the American creed, the ideology that Professor Huntington cites as one of the historic sources of our national identity.

The American creed that he refers to is the Declaration of Independence and it’s idea of individual rights and government by consent. In other words, the idea of individual and natural rights that Thomas Jefferson borrowed from John Locke. These rights are stated in the Declaration of Independence as “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. I imagine that this is what Professor Huntington meant by the American creed as this is what most Americans live and die by.

Q3- Explain the difference between culture and creed, according to the Professor.

Culture, according to the Professor, is mostly language and religion while creed is the idea of natural rights as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

Q4- Professor Huntington thinks culture is more important than creed. Do you? Explain.

To be an American, I do not think that your primary language has to be English or your religion has to be Protestant Christianity. I do, however, think that you have to believe in natural and individual rights or you will never be a true American. Religion doesn’t matter. That was made sure of in the Constitution when it guaranteed us the right to religious freedom. I believe that you should be able to speak English eventually in order to survive in our society, but it does not have to be your primary language. The one thing that all Americans have in common is the belief in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

 Q5- Discuss “founding” as expressed by Aristotle’s Politics.

Founding is what makes a nation something besides a name. It is the establishment of laws, practices, offices, and chief areas of government. This is what our “Founding Fathers” did when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They established the office of president and the government of the people, for the people, and by the people, thus making it a republic and not a monarchy or aristocracy.

Q6- Complete the sentence attributed to Aristotle’s thinking: “We are just free enough to____________________.” (Fill in the blank.)

“We are just free enough to take responsibility for things in life we cannot choose.”

Q7- Which took precedence in the founding of America ; natural law and rights or the British Constitution?

Natural law and rights.

Q8- What was the reason for the traditional conservatives’ opposition to the rationalism that fueled the French Revolution?

They opposed it on the grounds that its principles destroyed political health in certain societies. 

Q9-American  Intelligence efforts uncovered a group of Taliban leaders attending a funeral. By current military terms of engagement no action could be taken against these “sitting duck” enemies. Why?  Is this, in your opinion, a good or bad outcome? Defend your position.

Action could not be taken against the Taliban leaders because a funeral is neutral ground and grounds for a cease fire according to the military terms of engagement in respect of the deceased. Though I do not like the fact that we could not act against these enemies of state, I do like the fact that our people honor the terms and rules of engagement laid down to preserve both our honor and the moral of our people.

Q10- The Geneva Convention requires signatories, (the USA is one of a multitude of signatories) to enact their own laws in keeping with the ban against torture. Currently U.S. law prohibits conduct denigrating the dignity and rights of foreign prisoners that is so narrowly defined as to be codling in the opinion of many Americans. The military acknowledges that this conduct would not be reciprocated by Al Queda and Taliban terrorists.

Does this military code of conduct make you proud to be an American? Why or why not. If not, what should be done to correct the situation?

Yes, this military code of conduct does in fact make me proud to be an American. It means that we have the honor and pride in ourselves to hold ourselves to our commitments and means that our word is good in everything else as well. It proves to other countries that our word is good. This means that they will be more comfortable in their treaties with us.

Q-11 Can or should America impose its form of government on other nations?

American can attempt to impose its form of government on other nations through war fare, but I don’t think we should as long as they pose no threat to American society. It should be their choice to accept or reject the idea of democracy.

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