Legitimacy In The Declaration Of Independence

Historically, the United States has prided itself for being the most egalitarian and autonomous nation in the world. Political institutions and figures have viciously upheld the theoretical ideals of the nation while in practice, more than often, come up short on their promises to the people. This gap between our fundamental values as delineated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and our discriminatory practices such as slavery and gender discrimination can be found in or explained by the original sin of slavery at the commencement of the United States and dissonance between competing political ideologies which purposefully exclude marginalized peoples. America was built for the white man; every other person’s rights came,

This ideal, however, was conveniently set aside to accommodate the slave system. Despite slaves not having the power to consent to the system that ultimately governed them due to their social class which ranked them as subhuman, the legitimacy of this ideal was not questioned because it gave the white community the freedoms they desired. The American civil religion, also known as the “American Creed,” can be defined as the “institutionalized collection of sacred American beliefs providing sources of cohesion and prophetic guidance through times of national

The republican ideology consists of maximizing personal liberty through certain democratic preconditions. In this system, the government must be concerned about shaping virtuous citizens by insuring they are engaged in politics, well educated, critical thinkers, and willing to sacrifice for the good of the community. The political concept of liberalism also prioritizes personal liberty above all else, however, the approach differs drastically from that of republican ideology. Although the two types of liberalism (classical and modern) diverge on the issue of government intervention, they both look to limit power in the government, majorities, and fundamental liberties. These two political ideologies are in play in American politics and cause discord between the implementation and interpretation of policy simply on the grounds of their differences. However, Rogers Smith raises an argument to combat the idea that the problem solely lies within the two ideologies and presents a structure that accounts for the systematic inequalities in our political system. Smith introduces the concept of ascriptive inegalitarianism which essentially brings to light the conditions in which the reality of political ideologies exist due to social preconceptions that are passed from one generation to the next about the “natural” superiority of one race,