Human rights in the United States

The first human rights organization in the Thirteen Colonies of British America, dedicated to the abolition of slavery, was formed by Anthony Benezet in 1775. A year later, the Declaration of Independence would advocate for civil liberties based on the self-evident truth “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This view of human liberties postulates that fundamental rights are not granted by the government but are inalienable and inherent to each individual, anteceding government.

Holding to these principles, the United States Constitution, adopted in 1787, created a republic that guaranteed several rights and civil liberties. Those rights and liberties were further codified in the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments of the Constitution) and subsequently extended over time to more universal applicability through judicial rulings and law and reflecting the evolving norms of society — slavery being constitutionally abolished in 1865 and women's suffrage being established nationally in 1920.

In the 20th century, the United States took a leading role in the creation of the United Nations and in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Much of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was modeled in part on the U.S. Bill of Rights.In the latter part of the 20th century, however, the US has participated in few of the international human rights treaties, covenants and declarations adopted by the UN member states.

In the 21st century, the US actively attempted to undermine the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court The United States government  for human rights violations both domestically and overseas, particularly in the criminal justice system and in national security issues, as well as for its treatment of sexual orientation in the realms of anti-discrimination laws and same-sex marriage

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AMERICAN VALUES

If you asked most Americans what the cultural values in the U.S. are, you might get some blank stares, or a statement of some basic beliefs. The question may seem simple, but the answer is quite complex. In a society as highly diverse as the United States, there is likely to be a multitude of answers.

American culture has been enriched by the values and belief systems of virtually every part of the world. Consequently, it is impossible to be comprehensive. Nevertheless, a few selected values are at the core of the American value system.

Individual Freedom

The one value that nearly every American would agree upon is individual freedom. Whether you call it individual freedom, individualism, or independence, it is the cornerstone of American values. It permeates every aspect of our society.

The concept of an individual's having control over his/her own destiny influenced the type of government that was established here, and individual rights are guaranteed in the United States Constitution (the supreme law of the land).

These rights are so protected in our judicial system that, even though Americans may complain that criminals sometimes "get away with murder," most people believe it is better to free a few guilty persons than to imprison one person who is innocent.

While our economic system may be dominated by large corporations, the majority of American businesses are small, and many are owned by an individual or a family. It is part of the "American dream" to "be your own boss," and being an entrepreneur is one of the most appealing ways to improve one's economic future.

Choice in Education

Education is often regarded as the key to opportunity, including financial security. Americans take a pragmatic approach to learning, so what one learns outside the classroom through internships, extracurricular activities and the like is often considered as important as what is learned in the classroom. Consequently, lifelong learning is valued which results in many adult and continuing education programs.

Americans have many choices. In school they decide their major field of study, perhaps with or without their parents' influence, and students even get to select some of their courses. These "elective" courses often confuse foreign students who may expect a more rigid curriculum.

The belief that Americans should "be all that you can be" emanates from our Protestant heritage. Since the majority of the early settlers were Protestant, they believed that they had a responsibility to improve themselves, to be the best they could be, to develop their talents, and to help their neighbors. These convictions have not only influenced our educational system, but are often reflected in U.S. foreign policy. What some might consider meddling in other people's affairs, others believe is fulfilling a moral obligation.

The Family

Another aspect of American society that may bewilder non-Americans is the family. The nuclear family structure (parents and children) is so alien to most cultures in the world that it is often misunderstood. The main purpose of the American family is to bring about the happiness of each individual family member. The traditional family values include love and respect for parents, as well as for all members of the family.

However, the emphasis on the individual and his/her right to happiness can be confusing. It allows children to disagree, even argue with their parents. While in most other cultures such action would be a sign of disrespect and a lack of love, that is not the case in the United States. It is simply a part of developing one's independence.

Many foreign students and visitors are welcomed by host families, who invite them into their homes for dinner or to join in family activities. Frequently visitors are told to "make themselves at home" and, at times, may appear to be "left alone."

It certainly is nice to be treated as an honored guest in someone's home, but one of the highest compliments that an American can give foreign guests is to treat them like members of the family, which means to give them the "freedom of the house" to do what they want, to "raid the refrigerator" on their own, or to have some quiet time alone.

Privacy

Privacy is also important to Americans. The notion of individual privacy may make it difficult to make friends. Because Americans respect one's privacy, they may not go much beyond a friendly "hello." Ironically, it is usually the foreigner who must be more assertive if a friendship is to develop.

The rugged individualism valued by most Americans stems from our frontier heritage. For much of our country's history, there was a frontier. That experience greatly influenced American attitudes. Early settlers had to be self-sufficient which forced them to be inventive. Their success gave them an optimism about the future, a belief that problems could be solved. This positive spirit enables Americans to take risks in areas where others might only dream, resulting in tremendous advances in technology, health and science.

The American frontier also created our heroes: the self-reliant, strong-willed, confident individual who preferred action to words and always tried to treat others fairly. Many of these characteristics are represented by the myth of the American cowboy, and the more modern versions personified in movies by John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Sylvester Stallone. We can even look to "future" centuries and admire similar qualities in the heroes of the Star Trek and Star Wars movie series.

In addition to such basic American values as individual freedom, self-reliance, equality of opportunity, hard work, material wealth, and competition, we see a trend toward conservation with an emphasis on recycling and preserving the environment. Also there is a greater sensitivity to cooperation on a more global scale.

No matter what changes the next century brings or whether you agree with American values, the opportunity to visit the United States and to observe Americans first-hand is an experience well worth the effort.

Be careful not to be ethnocentric, but to evaluate a culture by its own standards. Be aware that you'll help shape American attitudes, just as they will influence you. 

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Broken marriages draining tax coffers

The cost of divorce and out-of-wedlock births to taxpayers nationally exceeds $112 billion a year, including the cost of federal, state and local government programs and forgone tax revenues, according to "The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-ever Estimates for the Nation and All 50 States," a report by a coalition of organizations that includes the Institute for American Values, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, the Georgia Family Council and Families Northwest.

The group said children are particularly impacted by marriage failure, with "potential risks" that include poverty, mental illness, physical illness, infant mortality, lower educational attainment, juvenile delinquency, behavior problems, criminal activity as adults and early unwed parenthood. Reese notes that research shows children who live with both biological parents do better socially than peers in other family structures.

"The idea that family fragmentation contributes to child poverty has been studied extensively and is widely accepted," the coalition said, noting that marriage "can help to reduce poverty" because there are two potential wage earners in a home, economies of scale and "possibly also because of changes in habits, values and mores that occur" when people marry.

The report says while most of the debate over marriage focuses on it as a social, moral or religious institution, marriage is "also an economic institution, a powerful creator of human and social capital. Increases in divorce and unwed childbearing have broad economic implications...."

The link between marriage disintegration and the need for public assistance social programs is so strong, in fact, that Utah placed its marriage initiative within the department that administers the programs, Workforce Services. And the state offers tools to bolster marriage, from a Utah Marriage Handbook covering topics from sharing the expectations you have for your partner to creating a healthy stepfamily, to a relations/couple care course put together by Brigham Young University and offered online to state residents. That includes a premarital inventory. It's not a compatibility test, notes Liz Hale, clinical psychologist and chair of the Utah Commission on Marriage, but "it brings out how the other person thinks and offers an opportunity to have an important conversation."

The class includes an opportunity to interact with a facilitator by phone or email, as well.

The top five reasons people divorce are not a mystery, said Reese: lack of commitment, conflict/arguments, infidelity, marrying too young and finances. Often, these factors intertwine, as when financial strain leads to arguments.

The initiative is now in 19 of Utah's 29 counties, where local coordinators run their own activities to meet community needs, which are not the same from place to place. In Weber/Morgan, for instance, there's a popular class offered in some high schools on how to avoid falling for a partner who is a jerk. A Beaver County coordinator gives out activity cards that list things married couples can do together (no kids invited). Complete 10 and you get a pair of movie passes and a book. Washington County hosts a weekly relationship class that keeps gaining in popularity.

"We were more an advisory group. Now we are more of an action group," Reese said of the marriage initiative.

The purpose of all the efforts is to "help form and sustain lasting and loving marriages," Hale said. The key is to "choose wisely and treat kindly."

Divorce rates are actually falling, but so are marriage rates and Hale said that's cause for concern. It behooves people to realize up-front how important marriage is and how to care for and nurture it. Instead, though, often adults only get educated about their relationship after it has fallen apart. That takes the form of a mandated divorce education class. And for those who remarry without figuring out how to care for their relationship, the divorce rate is even higher, she said.

"Hope" is the message, according to Hale. "There are things we can do to strengthen relationships. It's all about skills. And all of us can benefit from that, across the board."

If you're married, "or hope you might get married some day, we can help you out," said Reese.

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Justices of the Peace

Justices of the Peace (JPs) are highly-respected members of the community who play an important role in our society.

JPs are volunteers in Queensland’s legal system. They perform services ranging from witnessing signatures to hearing matters in court.

JPs perform routine matters and free lawyers and the courts to concentrate on cases which require legal training.

There are two levels of office:

1. Commissioner for Declarations (C.dec) or Justice of the Peace (C.dec)
2. Justice of the Peace (Qualified)

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Constitution Amendment in 1868 14 April

14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.

American Memory Historical Collections

    The African-American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920

        The Cleveland Gazette published an article on the Fourteenth Amendment on December 24, 1898, which discusses this amendment as it relates to a controversy concerning pensions for Confederate veterans. Also includes another Cleveland Gazette article from January 11, 1902, on enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment.

    African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P.Murray Collection, 1818-1907

        In 1873, the U.S. Supreme Court examined the 14th Amendment in the Slaughterhouse Case. The dissenting opinions can be read in this collection. Also includes a speech from 1904 by Edward Morrell, a congressman from Pennsylvania, entitled "Negro Suffrage: Should the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments be Repealed?"

    A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation

        The Senate passed the 14th Amendment on June 8, 1866, by a vote of 33 to 11, while the House of Representatives passed the 14th Amendment on June 13, 1866, by a vote of 120 to 32. On July 28, 1868, Secretary of State William Seward issued a proclamation certifying the ratification of the 14th Amendment by the states.

        Search in the 39th Congress to find additional information on the 14th Amendment.

    Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921

        In 1871, Sara J. Spencer and Sarah E. Webster each brought cases before the court in the District of Columbia arguing that they were enfranchised by the Fourteenth Amendment. This pamphlet outlines the arguments of their lawyers and the decision of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia denying their claim.

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Six Essentials Democracy in USA American

The combination of federal, state, and local laws, bodies, and agencies that is responsible for carrying out the operations of the United States. The federal government of the United States is centered in Washington, D.C.

The institutions of all governments emerge from basic principles. In the United States the one basic principle is representative democracy, which defines a system in which the people govern themselves by electing their own leaders. The American government functions to secure this principle and to further the common interests of the people.

Democracy in America is based on six essential ideals: (1) People must accept the principle of majority rule. (2) The political rights of minorities must be protected. (3) Citizens must agree to a system of rule by law. (4) The free exchange of opinions and ideas must not be restricted. (5) All citizens must be equal before the law. (6) Government exists to serve the people, because it derives its power from the people. These ideals form the basis of the democratic system in the United States, which seeks to create a union of diverse peoples, places, and interests.

To implement its essential democratic ideals, the United States has built its government on four elements: (1) popular sovereignty, meaning that the people are the ultimate source of the government’s authority; (2) representative government; (3) checks and balances; and (4) federalism, an arrangement where powers are shared by different levels of government.

Every government has a source of its sovereignty or authority, and most of the political structures of the U.S. government apply the doctrine of popular sovereignty. In previous centuries the source of sovereignty in some countries was the monarchy-the divine right of kings to rule. Americans place the source of authority in the people who, in a democratic society, reign. In this idea the citizens collectively represent the nation’s authority. They then express that authority individually by voting to elect leaders to represent them in government. “I know no safe repository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1820, “and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.” This was an experimental idea at the time, but today Americans take it for granted.

The second principle of U.S. democracy is representative government. In a representative government, the people delegate their powers to elected officials. In the United States, candidates compete for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, as well as for many state and local positions. In turn these elected officials represent the will of the people and ensure that the government is accountable to its citizens. In a democracy, the people exercise power through elections, which allow adult citizens of the United States the chance to have their voices heard and to influence government. With their vote, they can remove officials who ignore their intentions or who betray their trust. Political leaders are accountable as agents of the people; this accountability is an important feature of the American system of representative government.

In order to truly work, however, representative government must represent all people. Originally, the only people allowed to vote, and thus to be represented, were white men who owned property—a small percentage of the population. Gradually, voting rights were broadened to include white men without property, blacks, Native Americans, naturalized immigrants, and women.

The third principle of American democracy is the system of checks and balances. The three branches of government—the legislative, the executive, and the judicial—restrain and stabilize one another through their separated functions. The legislative branch, represented by Congress, must pass bills before they can become law. The executive branch—namely, the president—can veto bills passed by Congress, thus preventing them from becoming law. In turn, by a two-thirds vote, Congress can override the president’s veto. The Supreme Court may invalidate acts of Congress by declaring them contrary to the Constitution of the United States, but Congress can change the Constitution through the amendment process.

The fourth principle of democracy in the United States is federalism. In the American federal system, the states and the national government divide authority. This division of power helps curb abuses by either the national or the state governments.

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