In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson began drafting the Declaration of Independence. He completed it and had it signed on June 28, 1779. A very famous phrase from this document would be “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776) Today we can see that these rights are not exactly protected. This is evident through the daily murders, people locked up due to non-violent crimes, and how most people are unhappy with their current lifestyle. Today, teenagers are having abortions left and right because they lie around, get pregnant, and then think they can get rid of the baby. Teenagers shoot each other because they live within five blocks of each other. Yet, there are some people who create groups to give respect to life and try to help others gain the same respect. Then the question of freedom emerges; we believe we are free but the reality is that we are in government chains. They control every aspect of our lives: what we do, when we do it, where we do it, and how we do it. The only freedom we have is what we think and how we choose to act on those thoughts. We have the freedom to choose what will make us happy regarding life and this will lead us to the topic of pursuing happiness. To put it simply, the pursuit of happiness says “we have the right to chase dreams”, but if we look around us, we persecute people every day because they choose to live a lifestyle that makes them happy. They are cursed, things are thrown at them, and perhaps killed because of their religion. Same with homosexuals, they are treated as “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are...... middle of paper ......omas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence , June 28, 1776) is only a figment of the imagination of our founding fathers. We live day after day as citizens of a nation that doesn't even respect its own rules. I once read a photo that said "if we lie to the government it's a crime, but if the government lies to us it's just politics". (N/A, facebook.com, May 5, 2014) That photo was really profound; this simply demonstrates the hypocrisy of the government and its officials. In doing this project it is certainly safe to say that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776) is a human right that is violated regularly. We, as the people of the United States of America, deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, June 28, 1776)