The Declaration of Independence

1. Take out a copy of the Declaration of Independence and review the document for its main ideas. How are the core values of American democracy incorporated into the Declaration?
-"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, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

2. Throughout these core values, the relationship between citizen and government is described. What responsibilities does the government have to honoring these core values? What responsibilities do individual citizens have to preserve these core values?
-Both the government and the citizen has responsibilities to preserve these core values so as to keep law, order, and freedom in America. Without these core values outlined, America would descend into a state of lawlessness and anarchy, at worst. A state of tyrranical dictatorship at best.

3. How might some or all of these core values be important to the preservation of a free and independent press?
-Freedom is of utmost importance to an independent press. Without freedom, the press would never be able to report the news without bias, because the government would of course have its hand in it...

4. Identify the core values of American constitutional democracy that allow private citizens to collect, edit and further distribute information to others and how the values help drive these actions.
-Americans are given freedom of the press...which of course means we can collect, edit, and distribute information as we want.

5. What responsibilities do producers of information have to these core values and their fellow citizens when distributing information?
-The have the responsibility to report the news truthfully, and without bias. The news should be brought to the masses as is, so they can see it and be free to make their own decisions based on it.