Freedom Of Speech In Norman Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms'

“Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.” Abraham Lincoln made this statement in referring to the emancipation of the slaves. Even though the statement has nothing to deal with the Fourth Amendment, or the Search and Seizure laws within the Constitution, what is stated still brings about a good point relating to the Constitution. The fact being brought out of this quote is that the Constitution’s purpose is to safeguard Americans’ liberties. Along with great points brings questions regarding the quote. Should individuals interfere with the Constitution, more specifically the amendments and rights pertaining to search and seizure laws? In today’s

In “The Four Freedoms” speech President Roosevelt was speaking to the American people, the ones who had fear of the war that was being fought across the ocean. The

The first Amendment of the United States Constitution says; “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”[1] Our fore fathers felt that this statement was plain enough for all to understand, however quite often the United States government deems it necessary to make laws to better define those rights that are stated in the Constitution. Today the framers would be both encouraged and discouraged by our modern interpretation the First Amendment the United States

Freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. There are different forms of freedom, two of which are physical and mental freedom. People advocate the rights of both physical and mental freedom of others who can not. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Malala Yousafzai fought for physical freedom whereas John F. Kennedy fought for mental freedom. In order to be completely free, someone must posses both physical and mental freedom.

On January 6, 1941 President Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union Address before congress. He spoke eloquently of a future world founded on the essential human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. (Foner 2014pg842). He used this speech as a rally cry to enter World War 2. (Foner 2014, 757) These four freedoms were meant to establish basic rights for all people in the United states and still today we hold true to these freedoms. (Foner 2014 pg842) Freedom of speech came to coincide with freedom and expression which would be the best defense against corruption of democracy. (Remembering the Four Freedoms 2016). Freedom of worship or religion would be our shield against the forces of bigotry, intolerance, and fanaticism, Freedom from want, a commitment to erasing hunger, poverty, and pestilence from the earth, brought hope for citizens as they fought the Great depression and Finally, freedom from fear, a freedom dependent on collective security, a concept carried forward with our leadership in the United Nations.(Remembering the Four Freedoms 2016) As America battled the great depression, Roosevelt was confident that the war would end the depression and cause the United States to thrive once again. (Foner2014, 843) Roosevelt declared on a radio address in 1942 that the “rights of men of every creed and every race, wherever they live” implying that the four freedoms made so prominent in this time era should be a

The wartime economy had a profound and often unpredicted impact on the Commonwealth and the nation. As millions of men nationwide entered the military, women entered the work force in record numbers; by 1945, they formed perhaps one-third of it. Nationwide, millions of Americans left their isolated rural homes for the higher wages that could be found doing factory work in cities. Internal migration brought more than two million African Americans from the South to industrial centers in the Northeast and West. The advertising campaign for War Bonds was phenomenal in its scope. Rallies were held featuring both local and national celebrities. Norman Rockwell’s series of paintings, The Four Freedoms, was displayed on tour, and raised $132 million.

We all know our rights. Most of us do paid attend, to them in school. Do you know what is the Fourth Amendment is? If, you have forgotten, it is our right to privacy. Or from the Bill of Right “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized (Fourth Amendment).” This can be from our homes, people, schools, and our cars. Why is this important to us? What is searches and seizures? What is privacy? What should we know about this amendment? Do we have an expectation

President Franklin Roosevelt, in his Four Freedoms Speech, Americans heard a list of four essential freedoms that they should work toward for the future. They include “freedom of speech and expression – everywhere in the world,” “freedom of every person to worship God in his own way – everywhere in the world,” “freedom from want,” and “freedom from fear.” These freedoms aren’t limited to the national picture; rather, President Roosevelt focuses on the international,

All you ever hear about in the news lately is people getting in trouble for speech. Many Americans embrace freedom of speech for the same reasons they embrace other aspects of individualism. Freedom of speech is the right to defiantly, robustly and irreverently speak one's mind just because it is one's mind. Freedom of speech is thus bonded in special and unique ways to the human capacity to think, imagine and create. Conscience and consciousness are the sacred precincts of mind and soul. Freedom of speech is intimately linked to freedom of thought, to that central capacity to reason and wonder, hope and believe, that largely defines our humanity (Smolla).

It’s very clear that the poor and the wealthy have different concerns. The poor worry more about finical issues while the wealthy are more concerned with economic or personal issues. But there are some concerns that they share quite equally such as the freedom from fear. To prove this, we will analyze the text from Barack Obama’s “Welcoming Remarks” speech and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech.

On June 6, 1941, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made a speech that has since been known as “The Four Freedoms Speech.” In this speech, he outlines four freedoms he hopes every person in the world will obtain in the future. He identifies the four freedoms as the following: “...Freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world... freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world… freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world… freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.”

After reading the transcript of the speech, “The Spirit of Liberty”, given by federal judge for more than 50 years, Learned Hand, who served most of the time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, my idea of what it means to be an American was slightly shifted. The statement made by Hand which really caught my attention was, “What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes.” I agree with Hand in the sense that the constitution can only serve purpose to our country if we, as Americans, learn to be truly accepting.

Rockwell incorporates the Four Freedoms Speech into the imagery of his paintings to illustrate the freedoms by depicting examples of each freedom being actively utilized. Moreover, each painting is representative of one of the freedoms because the subjects of the painting are clearly using their respective freedoms and are very delighted to be doing so, showing how important each one is. For example, one of the painting illustrates a family sitting around the table about to eat a very prosperous dinner and dressed in nice clothing, showing that the family is economically stable and thriving. This shows that they are using their “freedom from want” and have been given the security of a secure and happy life the government owes them according

'Give me liberty or give me death.' These famous words were uttered by Patrick Henry on March 23, 1775, as a conclusion to his speech delivered to the Virginia House of Burgesses. Within his speech, he uses the three rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos) to convey a feeling of urgency toward the changes occurring in policy within the Americas implemented by the British government. He cleverly uses these appeals to disrupt the paradigm that Great Britain is going to let the American people have any liberty.