Unit 3 Reflection

     An individual's obligations to its government as well as a government's obligations to the individual consist of many different elements. These obligations have been exhibited through the works of many rhetors throughout history. In Unit 3, we have covered many of these rhetors such as Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Martin Luther King Jr. Through their works such as the The Declaration of Independence, The Declaration of Sentiments, and I Have a Dream, these rhetors explain that the obligation of both the individual to its government and the government to the individual is to create a state of true equality.
     In Thomas Jefferson's The Declaration of Independence, Jefferson explains that equality is the obligation of both the individual and the government. Through lines such as "all men are created equal" (page 1), Jefferson emphasizes the need for the government to treat its people as equals and the individual to treat eachother as well as the government as equals. This equality must be created despite differences such as race, religion, culture, or lifestyle. By including this strong statement about equality in the nation's Declaration of Independence, Jefferson even further emphasizes the need for this from both the government and the individual.
     I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. exhibits the obligation of equality for both the individual and the government. King uses statements such as "I have a dream that one day...will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice." (MLKjr. p.3) In this quote, King expresses the need for equality so that the nation can at last be turned into one of true freedom and justice. The government must provide true equality for its people so that in return the people can treat eachother as equals, and in all, the country can better function as one equal, free, justified whole.
     Elizabeth Cady Stanton declares in The Declaration of Sentiments that the obligation of both the individual and the government is true equality. In this document, Stanton emphasizes the obligation of the individual to stand up for themselves to work towards a state of true equality, such as the woman standing up for the rights of equality towards men. Throughout this work, Stanton continuously proves that equality is the common obligation of both the individual and the government.
     Through these famous works, The Declaration of Independence, I Have a Dream, and The Declaration of Sentiment, rhetors such as Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Elizabeth Cady Stanton consistently prove that the obligation of both the individual and the government is to create equality.