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The Values of America The recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. This ideology was first introduced by the Bible through the words of the Old Testament. In the beginning of this world, the possibilities for treating humans with the greatest respect were ignored. Over time, honorable leaders have implemented guidelines on appropriate ways that people should be treated. The United States has evolved into a culture that respects each person and their rights in society. These rights include examples such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, religion, and assembly which are all intended to protect humans. As a result of this strong human rights system within our culture, our nation has become a prevailing political and economical factor. American citizens have united under one constitution and supported the nation to become as powerful as we are today. Compared to Japan and the former Soviet Union, the United States has proven throughout history to be a superior nation because of our cultural values. Even though the Old Testament created the ideology of the sense of worth for human beings, it was not until much later that these rights were recognized. It occurred during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when several philosophers in Europe proposed the concept of "natural rights," rights belonging to a person by nature and because he was a human being, not by virtue of his citizenship in a particular country or membership in a particular religious or ethnic group. This concept was vigorously debated and rejected by some philosophers as baseless. Others saw it as a formulation of the underlying principle on which all ideas of citizens' rights and political and religious liberties were based. The middle and late 19th century saw a number of issues take center stage, many of the issues we in the late 20th century would consider human rights issues. They included slavery, serfdom, brutal working conditions, starvation wages, and child labor. In the United States, a bloody war over slavery came close to destroying a country founded only eighty years earlier on the premise that, "all men are created equal." Russia freed its serfs the year that war began.
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