Events That Encourage Freedom

¶ … Encourage Freedom: Americans generally think that they are one of the most free nations in the world regardless of whether their thoughts are the truth or illusory. These thoughts are fueled by the consideration of freedom as a fundamental topic and issue that touches the sense of individuality and nation. However, the history of American freedom is characterized by struggles, disagreements, and debates.

Actually, freedom has never been a fixed concept for Americans because of its ubiquity and the fact that the country's history does not have a series of evolutionary narrative towards the achievement of a pre-determined objective or goal. As a result, American freedom consists of events that most encouraged freedom since 1865 and those that most diluted or detracted freedom during the same period.

One of the events that most encouraged freedom since 1865 to present is the Civil War that was a by-product of the Supreme Court declaration in 1857 that no black individual could ever be a citizen of the United States. The Civil War most encouraged freedom because it destroyed slavery and reinstated the issue of black citizenship to the national agenda. While the Confederacy identified slavery as the cornerstone of the Civil War, many southerners insisted that it was a fight for home and liberty.

The second event that encouraged freedom in the United States is the struggle against Nazi tyranny and its concept of a master race. This struggle is an important event in Americans road to freedom since it discredited the notion of intrinsic ethnic and racial inequality. Moreover, this struggle contributed to the emergence of a new momentum to the long-denied quest for racial justice at home where all Americans would enjoy equal benefits of freedom as initiated by leftists and liberals in 1930s.

During World War II, the concept became the official position of the Roosevelt Administration, which used various ways to recognize contributions of blacks and immigrants and promote ethnic and racial inclusiveness. The third event that encouraged freedom is the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack, which made the language of freedom to take center stage in the public discourse of the United States. The issue of freedom took the center stage once again because it was highlighted as an all-purpose explanation for the 9/11 attack and the resultant fight against terrorism.

President Bush encouraged freedom in the aftermath of this attack by stating that freedom itself was under attack. The presidential invocation of freedom in the aftermath of the attack eventually became a powerful popular rallying call for freedom. On the contrary, there are events in the history of the United States that have detracted or diluted freedom since 1865. The first event that detracted freedom is the reconstruction period, which overturned significant gains that had been made by African-Americans with regards to freedom.

Actually, reconstruction failed to safeguard freedom of black people and was followed by a prolonged period of inequality for black Americans. This was despite of attempts to promote freedom by enacting abolitionist principle of birthright citizenship and equal protection into the Constitution. The second event occurred at the end of Reconstruction, which was brought by the withdrawal of federal troops. During this period, African-Americans experienced eradication of their nascent freedoms as black codes severely restricted their freedoms.

In addition, the subsequent Supreme Court decisions culminated in the final blow to hopes of freedom and equality for black people for nearly a century. The third event is the enactment of the Search and Seizure Law and the U.S. PATRIOT Act after the 9/11 attack. These legislations were enacted to help in the fight against terrorism and enhance the security of all Americans. These laws have diluted freedom by raising concerns on the balance between security and freedom, particularly in the face.