The Declaration of Independence, written to protect and serve the people of the United States while they abided by its laws. It allows for free speech, freedom of press, and the right to protest the government. As is says on page 180 of Little Brother, “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it,”. This is saying that if a government seizes too much power from its governed, then the people have the ability to overthrow and rebel until they are once again happy with the government. Marcus brings this up in class when they are discussing the yippies of the late 1900’s. He is arguing that they were within their rights to protest the government as it is written in our Constitution. In the passage Charles tries to argue that since the Constitution is so old that it doesn’t apply to society today. America was formed because people didn’t believe that their government has failed to protect their rights and they were given the power to rid of their ELECTED government if they saw fit.

After the discussion, Ms. Galvez asked the class to write an optional paper about the discussion and their opinions. A few pages later, we learn that Ms. Galvez was fired and replaced by a woman who is promoting the suspension of the constitution in some circumstances. She states that there is an order that rules are followed that protect life first, then liberty, than happiness. She believes that in matters of life and death, people should be willing to sacrifice happiness and liberty for life. She also states that if the police believes you are a danger to others without any proof than they can detain you. This is unlawful in my belief. According to the constitution you are innocent until proven guilty. You should not be locked up if you are “thought” to be dangerous. This was seen at the start of the book when Marcus and his friends were taken by the DIA because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If this was how the Constitution is taken at all times and the Government was given total surveillance power, then there would be arrests made every day just because you looked up something that could be “flagged”. This is why we have a Supreme Court so no one part of the government can circumvent the rules written by the founders of our country.