Jeffersonian Equality in the U.S.A.

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the concept of equality, which is stated in the Declaration of Independence, was the ideology of Thomas Jefferson. The author points out that Jefferson based this concept on the works of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. The author discuses the Supreme Court cases of "Dred Scott v. Sanford", "Plessy v. Ferguson", "Brown v. Board of Education" and "Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States". The paper also cites the importance of the passages of the Emancipation Proclamation (Thirteenth Amendment), the Fourteenth Amendment and the Nineteenth Amendment. The paper concludes that, although America's path to equality is marred by violence and prejudice against women, African-Americans, gays and minorities of other descent, Jefferson's words have not been diluted.

From the Paper:

'Hobbes wrote the "Leviathan", which is one of the first writings to challenge the idea that Kings were sent to Earth by God in order to rule over a country. Hobbes believed that at one point, society was living in an unregulated state of nature where life was, as Hobbes described it, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Surely, if individuals were living in an unregulated state of nature, there was not a king appointed by a god of some sort. Hobbes goes on to paint a picture of a society with a sovereign ruler, where people were treated as irrational animals. Hobbes had a dim outlook on humans and believed that a system similar to today's dictatorships was the way to govern a society."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jefferson, Thomas."The Declaration of Independence." Literature for Composition. Ed.
• Sylvan Barnet et al. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2005, 1142-1145.
• King, Martin Luther. "Letters From A Birmingham Jail." Barnet 1222-1234.
• Thoreau, Henry David. "Civil Disobedience." Barnet 1212-1214.
• Warren, Earl. Brown v. Board of Education. American Constitutional Law. Ed.

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