How Did The Us Fulfill The Ideals Of The Declaration Of Independence Dbq

From 1815 to 1850, America was still in the process becoming the nation it is today. Many citizens worked and thrived, not having to worry about things like rights being denied from them. However, not everyone was happy and well. People such as Native Americans and African Americans were treated in a way that did not follow the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. The U.S. did not fulfill the ideals of the Declaration of Independence for all people by 1850 because many different people such as African Americans and Native Americans did not receive the “certain unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” stated in the Constitution and were also treated unjustly. The ideals of the Declaration of Independence

When Andrew Jackson demanded that the Cherokees migrate to a designated area, they responded with a letter to Congress stating, “Is our country to be made the scene of “horrors” for sticking to the principles on which your great empire is founded?...Our minds remain unchanged because we can never accept that agreement...we have not given up our rights; and if we fail to give our sons the freedom we have gotten from our fathers, it will be our downfall…”(Document 2) The Cherokee nation did nothing to violate any of the past treaties they had with the U.S. This shows that Native Americans did not have equal political rights because they are American citizens yet the U.S. government has dishonored the many treaties that they had with the Cherokees. All that the Cherokees wanted was the liberty to remain in the land that they had been inhabiting for generations. Instead, they were tossed around like dolls by the U.S. The Native Americans stood up for themselves and the rules that the U.S. was founded on, yet they got punished. This letter from the Cherokee nation shares the same

At the National Negro Convention of 1843, Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave who escaped to freedom, gave a speech declaring, “Notice your loving wives who struggle with pain too terrible for words! Hear the cries of your poor children! Remember the whippings your fathers suffered. Think how many tears you have cried upon the soil that you have farmed. Remember that as native-born American citizens you deserve all the rights that are granted to the freeset men.”(Document 2) Henry Garnet declares that as American citizens, the African Americans deserve all the rights any other person would, but this is not the case. African Americans were forced into slavery, and as slaves they did not receive the social and political rights that other free men did. Day after day, they worked without salary. Being given no choice on this matter, they were denied liberty just because of their skin color. Pain and suffering came with being a slave, and only African Americans were put into slavery. Document 5 shares the information with this source, as both show that African Americans were mistreated and beaten. Charles Mackay, and Englishman, visited America in 1857-1858. He wrote about his travels, and an excerpt from his writing is when he wrote about how surprised he was at all the racial prejudice he saw in the North. Northern white citizens shared the opinion