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

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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, …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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There were other ways the government could ensure the security of the nation and prevent against espionage. The internment of Japanese Americans remains a dark moment in America’s record of civil

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The fifth amendment in the Bill of Rights states that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation,” (Title XVIII, Dec. 1791). Korematsu’s refusal to relocate to Japanese internment camp was based on a violation of the Fifth Amendment and personal protection orders. According to personal protection orders, a person should be able to avoid illegal detection, However, Fred Korematsu was denied this

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There was then fear and suspicion of the opposing nation. In the article, Japanese-Americans Fight to Preserve Wartime Internment Camps, Justin Ewers states, “Worried about invasion and convinced that Japanese immigrants might be loyal to Japan, Roosevelt insisted the decision was a matter of ‘military necessity.’” This shows that the U.S government had grown suspicious of the Japanese and no longer had trust upon them. They believed and had suspicions that any with Japanese ancestry had some connection with Japan and which they were communicating with the Japanese about the United States. Also in the article, Japanese Americans: The War at Home, Roger Daniels mentions, “The commission said that the “‘broad historical causes were … race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.

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How would you feel if one day you were told to leave your whole life behind to live in captivity just because people halfway across the world did something wrong? This horror story was all too true for the thousands of Japanese Americans alive during World War II. Almost overnight, thousands of proud Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced to leave their homes and give up the life they knew. The United States government was not justified in the creation of Japanese internment camps because it stripped law-abiding American citizens of their rights out of unjustified fear.

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What this text is trying say that Japanese Citizens and Japanese citizens who were also American rights were violated by President Roosevelt’s decision to authorize the internment on the Japanese citizens, however they wanted to protect civilians from the potential threat of the Japanese. The term Internment basically means to be sent to prison without a trial from a court of Law. Based upon the evidence this is why some people feel that the U.S. government has the right to take certain constitutional right in order to prevent any harm being

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Civil liberties are individual privileges that are secure by law from unwarranted disturbances. Every ethnic group is obligated under this law. America has a tendency of constraining civil liberties tightly during wartime being that it ends up creating anxiety and suppression for everyone. In December 7th, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor during WWII and led to abomination toward every Japanese person or those with Japanese ancestry alike. Hence, this steered to the creation of internment camps, the case Korematsu v. United States, and The Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

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World War II was a war that was looked at as trouble for everybody that was involved. The only reason that the U.S. was in WWII was because Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and our allies were fighting against

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The internment of Japanese-Americans was justified because there were Japanese suspects. Between ten internment camps in Arizona, California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas, about 250-300 people in each camp were suspects under surveillance. Only around 50-60 people were actually considered dangerous. “It is easy to get on the suspect list, merely a speech in favor of Japan being sufficient to land one there” (Munson 2). Clearly, America was taking extreme precautions.

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However, Isolationism still was losing favor with the public due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 helped to change views. The Pearl Harbor Attack raised feelings of anger and anti-Japanese sentiments in the hearts of American citizens.   In 1942, all Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps as they were perceived as possible spies. World War II revealed the growing spread of communism which Americans believed was worth fighting against.

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World War 2 was a devastating time that has caused cruel actions such as prejudice towards minorities and self hate of their own citizens in the past. For example, the Pearl Harbor bombing had influenced numerous Japanese American citizens due to their appearances that showed them as enemies to American citizens. In addition, the act of the Japanese American Internment Camps was significantly unnecessary because this was an unjust law that was racist and hysteria, also, Japanese Americans are citizens of the U.S not from a foreign land at all, and lastly, Japanese Americans had served in World War 2 that extinguished many fatalities in the past. First of all, this act had displayed cruel racism and hysteria towards Japanese Americans. For this reason, it states in the web article “From Wrong to Right: A U.S Apology for Japanese Internment,” “John Tateishi says the experience was both humiliating and disorienting.

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The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was not justified. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were scared of the Japanese Americans because they could sabotage the U.S. military. To try and solve the fear President Franklin D Roosevelt told the army in Executive order 9066 to relocate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They were relocated to detention centers in the desert. Many of them were in the detention centers for three years.

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During WW2, almost all Japanese Americans got their rights taken away from them. They were all placed into internment camps by the United States government. These internment camps left many individuals traumatized and killed. 3 reasons why the United States government was not justified in placing Japanese Americans into internment camps is because they were discriminatory towards them, they believed they were not loyal individuals, and they stripped the Japanese Americans rights as a citizen.

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In my opinion, the Japanese were still trying to show that they were Americans. They were complying with people putting them into the internment camps and they burned all of their heritage. Honestly, they were not doing anything un-American, but, because of their race, they were targeted. Arresting someone based on race is not constitutional, but we still see it today.

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1195 Words | 5 Pages

According to the National WWII Museum the US government cited national security as the reason for sending all of these Japanese Americans to internment camps because the American public were fueled to be anti-Japanese because of the Japanese victories in Guam, Malaya, and The Philippines. Another way the government showed that what they were doing was to “prevent espionage”. As a way of doing so President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19th 1942. The order was passed and the camps were created so Japanese Americans would not be allowed the freedom to do as they please meaning they couldn't even go anywhere so this made the American citizens feel safer because there were no Japanese to spy on them if they were in internment camps. Overall it was ruled that, “relocation and internment was justified during circumstances of “emergency and peril ""(Students of History), as a way of saying both national security and preventing espionage were ways the US government justified sending Japanese Americans to internment camps was acceptable during the

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The United States Constitution consists of basic human rights granted to everyone in the country, which includes the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, religion, and press. The Fourteenth Amendment affirms that no state shall enforce a law that deprives a person of life, liberty, or property without due process. However, in 1942, Japanese Americans were deprived of these rights. Due to fear from the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Japanese Americans were detained in internment camps or confinement places during wartime (“Japanese Internment,” 2007).

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