Title Page
Title of essay: The Document of Freedom
Contestant's name: Farzaneh Talebi Liasi
Address: 6558 Church St., Highland CA 92346
Telephone number: (909)-280-3520
Email address: [email protected]
High School name: Redlands Senior High School
High School Address: 840 E. Citrus Ave Redlands, CA 92374
High School Telephone: (909)-307-5500
Number of the high schools enrolled: 3
Contestant's grade level: 11 (Junior)
The Document of Freedom
It seems as though no American document in the history of the world has had a greater
impact on the liberation of its people than the Declaration of Independence. For the first time, the
people of the colonies had been united under one name "the United States of America". The
Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, quite known for its message of
autonomy by going against the monarchical system of the time, reaffirming the placement yet
vaguely of God in society, and finally establishing the important rights of the people in the direct
writing of the Declaration of Independence.
Many critics of the declaration of independence strongly look to the historical precedent
of the time. Thomas Jefferson himself had sought to relinquish any ties with the monarchial
system of England. By doing so, Independence could be granted. Thomas Jefferson himself
wrote "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General
Congress...solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to
be, free and Independent states; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British
Crown...". Further analysis of this quotation by Jefferson reveals the American people already
had a basis of self-rule and government. However, they want to break free from the clutches of
the British monarchy to finally establish themselves as an independent nation. Jefferson goes on
to talk about how the future nation of the United States should be able to "have full Power to
levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and do all other Acts and
Things which independent states may of right do". What is even more evident inside the
declaration of independence is the complaints that Jefferson makes against the British monarchy.
A few of them are "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so
suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the
accommodation of large districts of people …" The anger of the people of the colonies can be
clearly seen in Jefferson's complaint as basic institutions like the right of representation in the
legislature is not granted by the king of England. Even Thomas Paine highlighted this distress in
his pamphlet, “Common Sense”, as he says “To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and
visionary, we thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived us”(Paine
74).
One of the most forgotten yet important aspects of the declaration of independence was,
evidently, the overwhelming connection God. One of the main points of the declaration of
independence was that the God was an influence in the people but was not emphasized in
government. This allowed, for the first time, some vagueness with the people’s connection with
God, straying away from the Anglican Church in England. However, the concept of God and his
power was seen only to look over the people, not infringe upon them. Jefferson even says "it
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them". And this quotation, Jefferson is
affirming the idea that independence is seen in natural law and the God that gave the law. This
shows how he believe that God sustains the universe at times and on occasion, interfered in
human affairs, but for the most part, left the actions of humanity undone. Thus, the colonist see a
sense of freedom in their actions one they have a vague definition of God because most of the
time, that God is seen only as only an onlooker of human actions, not an interventionist of
human actions. Continuing on, Jefferson says "And for the support of this Declaration, with a
firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,
our Fortunes and our sacred Honor”. The use of the word "providence" in the quotation
highlights that God is active and watching over the people. However, it also shows that God is
not to intrude on your life and actions of the people as it mentions "we must mutually pledge to
live our lives, our fortunes, and our honor". Stephan Cohnn, in his book, The War of the
American Revolution, shows the vague image of God as he writes “It was conducted by
professional armies and navies without the mobilization of men, economic resources, and
popular opinion of entire nations that has characterized twentieth century war, and without the
passion and hatred of the religious wars” (Cohnn 4). The Pre-Columbian tells about the
intervention of God by saying “The Quaker faith made equality a practice in the community and
the meetinghouse throughout the Middle Colonies”.
The ultimate success of the declaration of independence seems to be the clear-cut desire
of Thomas Jefferson to establish a nation in which basic fundamental rights are guaranteed for
the people. Kay Moore in her work, “If you Lived at the Time of the American Revolution”,
writes, “It was like your mother watching over you. However, as you grow older, you will want
more freedom to make your own decisions. That is how many of the colonist felt” (Moore 1).
Jefferson directly displays this feeling. He writes "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”.
One of the fundamental things that Jefferson decides to do is write out the insecurities of the
colonist at that time. Jefferson demand is the most basic rights such as "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" to be included in the sphere of future of government. In essence, this
creates a stigma that the people deserve a basis of freedom for themselves. The anger and the
stress of the people can be further scene when Jefferson says "Object evinces a design to reduce
them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security ". Due to the lack of rights inside of the
colonies at the time, Jefferson looks to highlight the struggles of the colonies by showing their
"sufferance". By doing so, he is allowing for the perpetual and repetitive message of freedom to
be embraced inside of the declaration.
The overarching idea of the Declaration of Independence is quite clear. The people want
a basis of freedom, this was seen as Jefferson wrote about the massive amount dislike towards
the British monarchy, the bay gallery of the definition of God, and the direct writing about the
fundamental rights of the people. As long as people believe their liberty has been taken away,
they will strive continuously in order to ensure they get that liberty back. This is exactly what
Thomas Jefferson is inspirational writing of the Declaration of Independence.
Biography/Work Cited Page (MLA format)
"The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association,
n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.
Coakley, Robert W., and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution: Narrative,
Chronology, and Bibliography. Washington: Center of Military History, U.S. Army,
1975. Print.
"The Declaration of Independence: Full Text." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association,
n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.
"If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec.
2016.
Perkins, George B., Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom. Beatty, and E. Hudson. Long. The
American Tradition in Literature. New York: Random House, 1985. Print.
Contestant’s Biography
I was born in the city of Chaloose, Iran right next to the Mediterranean Sea. I was only
three years old when I left from Iran to America but I still have some very faint memories of that
time. My father in Iran was an Orthopedic Surgeon. At the time he had served as a surgeon for 5
years and was hoping send on the money he made on a new home for our family. Even though
my parents would have had a better life in Iran when looking at their financial situation, they
came all the way here just so their children could have for freedom in a new country. Though it
was a short lived experience, it was definitely one of the sweetest moments in my life.
Growing Up, I also lived all over the United States. When we first came here, we went to
the cold city of Milwaukee inside of Wisconsin. We then moved to Seattle in Washington State.
This is where my cleasest meories of early childhood appeared. After that, we moved to
Brooklyn, one of the five parts inside of New City. At the time, my parents were constantly at
work and they did not have much leizure time. At this moment in time, I became somewhat of an
only child since we had left my brother and sister in Washington due to the fact that they were in
University. We finally moved to California, our last and final destination.
As of the 2016-2017 school, I am now recognized formally as being a junior.
In my opinion, this is probably the most stressful year of all. One of the most unique classes that
I have is speech and debate. As a third year student in that class, it's been an amazing year from
the time I spent to the tournaments I went to. Anyone can improve their public speaking skills.
However, some people will be in tune with the Speech more than Debate and vice versa. My
most notable accomplishment was getting to Semi-Finals in impromptu at UC Berkley which is
the largest speech tournament on West Coast. One of my goals this year is starting a Middle
Eastern Club and my idea is swiftly coming into progress. I am hoping that is started by the
middle of October for this school year. It will focus a lot on the culture and also look to help
people in Middle Eastern countries through charity organizations. It is important to look at the
policies of the region, the culture, social, and economic aspects of the region. Hopefully, the club
will rise to success this year. I have faith in this club.
In my future, I hope to go to a good UC school, preferably either UCLA or UC Berkley
because they both have amazing pre- medical programs for students. As you might have guessed,
I would very much like to be a doctor. I do not know what type yet but I hope to discover that
along the way. Helping other people and seeing their faces every single day bring a smile on my
own face. I find it amazing that with such knowledge, one is able to drastically change the
quality of life that a person has. As people, there is no obligation to help others, but there is
always a rewarding sense of fulfillment when one does decide to do so, at least that was the case
with me. I hope that I could even go and do Doctors without borders for people in less fortunate
countries. In the future, I would, when I get older, like to become a medical entrepreneur. Like I
said before, as people, there is no obligation to help others, but there is always a rewarding sense
of fulfillment when one does decide to do so. It is amazing to see the growth of human
development as people strive for success. For me, one passion that I have is telomerase. Even
though the concept of telomerase it hard to explain, the potential result of the activation of this
enzyme in the human body might lead to the reversal of the aging process. Thus, I would like to
encourage future youths to be proactive and take a lager stance in the word of medicine. After
all, it is the youth that have ideas that are outside of the box. As people, we must encourage this
child like brain instead of pushing them to be more like our systematic adults.