[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-514088-105":59,"doc-detail-514088-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","chapter-2-defining-and-debating-americas-founding-ideals","Chapter 2 - Defining and Debating America's Founding Ideals","","Chapter 2 traces how America’s founding ideals were defined at the Declaration of Independence and how they continue to be debated. It presents Jefferson’s 1776 writing as a vision of a new nation built on ideals such as equality and rights, explains what equality meant within its historical context, and contrasts it with later progress. The chapter also highlights contradictions, arguing that equal rights does not automatically produce equal outcomes.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/chapter-2-defining-and-debating-americas-founding-ideals/514088/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/chapter-2-defining-and-debating-americas-founding-ideals/514088.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Aurelia","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-10-06",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What are America's founding ideals, and why are they important?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The chapter explains that founding ideals are guiding principles established in 1776 and they shape what it means to be American. It also notes that Americans have sometimes fought for and sometimes ignored these ideals over time.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How did Jefferson define equality in 1776, and what problems existed?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It presents Jefferson’s “all men are created equal” as a statement of an ideal. However, in 1776 the chapter emphasizes that enslaved people and women were not treated as equals.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the chapter say about debating equality today?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The chapter describes progress such as abolition of slavery and expanded voting rights, while also arguing that equal rights may not guarantee equal conditions. It raises questions about how to address differences in wealth, education, and power.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},514088,1791467418,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},1099514068365,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/10000253d8d9f28188e?_k=1776742907772140068","# Chapter 2\n\nDefining and DebatingAmerica's Founding Ideals  \nWhat are America's founding ideals,and why arethey important?  \n## 2.1 Introduction\n\nOn a June day in 1776,Thomas Jefferson set to work in a rented room inPhiladelphia.His task was to draft a document that would explain to the worldwhy Great Britain's 13 American colonies were declaring themselves to be\"free and independent states.\"The Second Continental Congress had appointeda five-man committee to draft this declaration of independence.At 33,Jeffersonwas one of the committee's youngest and least experienced members,but histraining in law and political philosophy had prepared him for the task.Hepicked up his pen and began to write words that would change the world.  \nHad he been working at home,Jefferson might have turned to his largelibrary for inspiration.Instead,he relied on what was in his head to make thedeclaration “an expression of the American mind.”He began,  \noverview | Student Text | Procedures | Notebook Guide | Guide to Reading Notes |Assessment | Diferentiating Instruction | Enhancing Learning  \nWe hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal,thatthey are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,thatamong these are Life,Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That tosecure these rights,Governments are instituted among Men,deriving theirjust powers from the consent of the governed.  \n—Thomas Jefferson,Declaration of Independence,1776  \nIn these two sentences,Jefferson set forth a vision of a new nation basedon ideals.An ideal is a principle or standard of perfection that we are alwaystrying to achieve.In the years leading up to the Declaration,the ideals thatJefferson mentioned had been written about and discussed by many colonists.Since that time,Americans have sometimes fought for and sometimes ignoredthese ideals.Yet,throughout the years,Jefferson's words have continued toprovide a vision of what it means to be an American.In this chapter,you willread about our nation's founding ideals,how they were defined in 1776,andhow they are still being debated today.  \nIn many ways Thomas Jefferson,shownhere with his fellow committee membersBenjamin Franklin and John Adams,wasan odd choice to write the Declaration ofIndependence.Not only was Jeffersonyoung and inexperienced,he was also aslaveholder.For all his fine words aboutliberty and equality,Jefferson provedunwilling to apply his\"self-evident\"truthsto the men and women he held in bondage.  \nThe Granger Collection, New York  \n\n|  |  |\n| --- | --- |\n|  | 2.2 The First Founding ldeal:Equality  \u003Cbr>\"We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal.\"  \u003Cbr>When Jefferson wrote these words,this \"truth\"was anything but self-evident,or  \u003Cbr>obvious.Throughout history,almost all societies had been divided into unequal  \u003Cbr>groups,castes,or social classes.Depending on the place and time,the divi-  \u003Cbr>sions were described in different terms—patricians and plebeians,lords and  \u003Cbr>serfs,nobles and commoners,masters and slaves.But wherever one looked,  \u003Cbr>some people had far more wealth and power than others.Equality,or the ideal  \u003Cbr>situation in which allpeople are treated the same way and valued equally,was  \u003Cbr>the exception,not the rule.  \u003Cbr>Defining Equality in 1776 For many Americans of Jefferson's time,the ideal  \u003Cbr>of equality was based on the Christian belief that all people are equal in God’s  \u003Cbr>eyes.The colonists saw themselves as rooting this ideal on American soil.They  \u003Cbr>shunned Europe's social system,with its many ranks of nobility,and prided  \u003Cbr>themselves on having\"no rank above that of freeman.\"  \u003Cbr>This view of equality,however,ignored the ranks below \"freeman.\"In  \u003Cbr>1776,there was no equality for the half million slaves who labored in the  \u003Cbr>colonies.Nor was there equality for women,who were viewed as inferior to  \u003Cbr>men in terms of their ability to participate in society.  \u003Cbr>Debating Equality Today Over time,Americans hav","cbCail54Aqg1DEv0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCail54Aqg1DEv0","pdf",2867708,"English","# Chapter 2: Defining and Debating America's Founding Ideals\n## 2.1 Introduction\n## 2.2 The First Founding Ideal: Equality\n## 2.3 The Second Founding Ideal: Rights","[{\"question\":\"What are America's founding ideals, and why are they important?\",\"answer\":\"The chapter explains that founding ideals are guiding principles established in 1776 and they shape what it means to be American. It also notes that Americans have sometimes fought for and sometimes ignored these ideals over time.\"},{\"question\":\"How did Jefferson define equality in 1776, and what problems existed?\",\"answer\":\"It presents Jefferson’s “all men are created equal” as a statement of an ideal. However, in 1776 the chapter emphasizes that enslaved people and women were not treated as equals.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the chapter say about debating equality today?\",\"answer\":\"The chapter describes progress such as abolition of slavery and expanded voting rights, while also arguing that equal rights may not guarantee equal conditions. It raises questions about how to address differences in wealth, education, and power.\"}]","Chapter 2 - Defining and Debating America's Founding Ideals | PDF",1791296176,11]