The Right To Freedom For Sacrifice For The Sake Of National Security Dbq Essay

World War II was a time of uncertainty and panic. The United States was fighting the protect democracy against Nazi Germany. At the same time this was happening, there was a war happening internally. The US was hypocritically and irrationally taking away American freedoms for the sake of possibly protecting national security. Japanese Americans who were not guilty whatsoever were being imprisoned because of government fear. Ironic, considering what the Allies were fighting for in Europe and the Pacific. Years later, the effects of this decision are finally being brought to light, bringing up the question of whether or not individual rights to freedom should ever be sacrificed for the sake of national security. America is the land of the free,

And thus, the United States of America was born. Foundational rules were established to ensure that the government could never impose on the people like they had before. Documents like the Bill of Rights and US Constitution were implemented into society. The United States now carries the title of a democratic republic. By definition, a democratic republic is a combination of democracy and republicanism in which the people can take part in making decisions that will affect how the country is governed. There is no monarch, and power is evenly distributed. The founding fathers made sure to limit the government in what they could do through systems like checks and balances. The concept of individual freedoms being sacrificed in the name of national security is known as collectivism. Collectivism prioritizes the common good over the individual good. Political ideologies like fascism, socialism, and communism, are all founded with the idea of collectivism. Collectivism violates all that the democratic republic of the United States stands for. It gives too much power to the government, depriving the people of their freedoms. Individual freedom is one of the primary reasons that people choose to live in

It is not known as 'The Supreme Law of the Land' for nothing. In the US Constitution, Amendments 5 and 6 deal with the concept of innocence until proven guilty. Furthermore, the United Nations released The Universal Declaration of Human Rights following WWII in 1948. Article 11 of this declaration states, "Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence" (claiminghumanrights.org). In the United States, everyone has the right to their freedoms outlined in the Constitution until they commit a crime, in which they then forfeit these rights. Only when a citizen has been proven guilty for a crime, can the government take away their freedoms. In the issue of internment camps during WWII, many people and government figures believed that by interning Japanese Americans, they were protecting the US against Japanese spies. However, this belief was based purely on fear and irrational thinking. Not one of the Japanese Americans were proven guilty on the crime of treason. During WWII, Japanese American freedoms were unconstitutionally taken