VIDEO: Watch SIA 101.5: Declaration of Independence – Part V (Video time: 46 minutes)
REQUIRED READING: Lincoln’s speech in Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857, pages 405 — 410.
TERMS, PEOPLE, & PLACES TO IDENTIFY
Where there is a time mark, the answer is provided at the time indicated in the relevant podcast or video. Where there is no time mark indicated, the student should look up in a book or perform an Internet search for the term, person, or place.
- Slavish
- Metaphysical
- Morality
- Instinct
- Appetite
- Choice
- Reason
- Magnanimous
- Endowed
- Endowment
- Prosperity
- Felicity
- Indissoluble
- Maxim
- Theorist
- Synonymous
- Unalienable
- Review Aristotle – Lesson Plan SIA 101.1
- Review Prime Mover – Lesson Plan SIA 101.3
- Review John Locke – Lesson Plan SIA 101.1
- Review Algernon Sidney – Lesson Plan SIA 101.1
- George Washington (What was his role in the American Revolution?)
STUDY QUESTIONS
- All men are created equal. An exercise of our imaginations with a thought exercise. (00:40 – 12:40)
- What makes a dog act like a dog? (1:50 – 2:50)
- Can an animal free themselves from their instincts? (2:50 – 3:35)
- What would a truly free being be like? (4:00 – 4:48)
- Human beings share characteristics of both beasts and God. Can we know this about ourselves? Can you think of some examples? (6:15 – 10:00)
- Can human beings make choices to override their instincts and appetites? (10:00 – 10:15)
- Because of this, human beings are the only ______________ beings. (10:10)
- What is the foundation of human morality? (10:10 – 10:50)
- All human beings experience both instinct and appetite as well as freedom of mind, choice, and reason. True or False? (10:50 – 11:55)
- In the sense that all human beings experience both instinct and appetite as well as freedom of mind, choice, and reason, we are all created equal? True or False? (10:50 – 11:55)
- Aristotle called what kind of nature a compound nature? (11:55 – 12:19)
- What idea is the foundation of self-government? (10:50 – 12:40)
- The idea that each of us can govern our self is based on what model? (12:40 – 12:55)
- In order to govern yourself, you must use what? (12:55 – 13:50)
- What is the second self-evident truth? (13:50 – 15:20)
- The second self-evident truth described in the Declaration of Independence comes from where? (15:20 – 18:40)
- From the Declaration of Independence, how should these rights be used? (18:40 – 18:50)
- What is the purpose or goal of the endowed rights described in the Declaration of Independence? (18:50 – 19:35)
- Where was George Washington when the Declaration of Independence was approved by vote? (19:37)
- What did George Washington do with the text of the Declaration of Independence? (20:00)
- George Washington equated happiness to what classical idea? (20:44)
- In the Declaration of Independence what are the three big rights endowed by the Creator? (21:05 – 21:40)
- Based on the model of natural human rights, do your rights come from government? (21:40 – 22:08)
- Based on the model of natural human rights, do your rights come from laws? (21:40 – 22:08)
- Based on the model of natural human rights, do your rights come from a program or policy? (21:40 – 22:08)
- Based on the model of natural human rights, do your rights come from regulations? (21:40 – 22:08)
- Based on the model of natural human rights, do your rights come from subsidies? (21:40 – 22:08)
- Why is it key for a person to know where their rights come from? (22:08 – 22:41)
- Where do your rights come from? (22:40)
- Is the list of rights in the Declaration of Independence exhaustive? (22:40 – 23:19)
- What is a right? (23:40)
- What does it mean to have a right to life? (24:07)
- Why would a human being have a rightful claim to their life? (24:30 – 25:30)
- What is a synonym for freedom/liberty? (26:30 – 27:18)
- What is the source of a human beings freedom/liberty? (26:30 – 27:18)
- A natural right to your life as a human being is inseparable from what? Why? (27:14 – 28:15)
- It can be difficult for people today to understand that they do not have a right to make choices for other people? Why? (28:15 – 29:02)
- What does a human being do with his liberty? (29:06 – 30:00)
- What kind of choices do human beings make? (29:06 – 30:00)
- What is the goal of the choices of human beings? (29:06 – 30:00)
- All human choices aim at what purpose or goal? (30:05 – 31:50)
- What about bad choices? (31:50 – 34:17)
- What are some of the qualities of a human nature? (34:18 – 36:11)
- How does a person’s right to their property fit in with the three big rights listed in the Declaration of Independence? (36:11)
- Why was the pursuit of happiness used instead of property? (37:19)
- Life, Liberty, pursuit of Happiness, Property – Each of these natural rights is included in the other. True or False? (37:19 – 38:50)
- The Declaration of Independence used a strange word – unalienable – when describing our endowed rights. What does unalienable rights mean? (38:50 – 40:04)
- The question of legalized slavery at the time of the founding and the idea of unalienable rights seem to create a conflict. At the time of the founding, did slaves have the unalienable rights described in the Declaration of Independence? (40:04 – 43:13)
- The natural rights to Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness that all human beings possess make the legalized institution of slavery wrong. True or False? (43:05 – 45:30)
- The unalienable natural rights in the Declaration of Independence give human beings a moral basis for knowing right and wrong? True or False? (43:05 – 45:30)
- Unalienable natural rights cannot be taken away, or repealed, they can only be violated? True or False? (43:05 – 45:30)