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Cameron Hardy
Life. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the very notion that has driven the United States political system for the last
hundred odd years. That being said any alienation of someone’s rights, especially that of a citizen, wouldn’t
be American in most opinions. According the natural rights of man this wouldn’t we a attribute of the freest country
in the world. In the cases of the Red Scare and Japanese internment the United Sates government suspended those chosen few
rights because they felt it necessary to preserve American’s rights.
It states in the Declaration of Independence “…they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, government are instituted
among men…” , these words say that if there is a threat to American sovereignty and their rights, to pursuit life,
liberty and happiness, it is government’s job to prevent that from happening. Was the suspension of citizen’s
rights ever a deviation of their constitutional rights? The country before the few, one of our founding principles that are
still evident today. Not only was this not a deviation of their rights, because the government is obligated to protect the
sovereignty of the majority, the relocation of the accused communist and those who were Japanese were for their own safety,
at these times the American hostility toward these two groups grew so relocating them was probably one of the most beneficial
thing that the American government could have done. As stated above there is no evidence that supports the notion that everyone
they relocated or imprisoned deserved to be, but it was necessary for the citizen to feel safe. The government used these
relocations and imprisonments to give Americans the sensation that they are safer and they didn’t have anything to worry
about, no matter how false these feeling were or were not.
Japanese internment was not justified by evidence but it was necessary to keep the harmony in the Sates. After the attack
on Pearl Harbor Americans felt that their way of life was being threatened by the Japanese. The United States government felt
that the only was to ease everyone’s tensions was to put them in a place where they couldn’t do anyone harm. Roosevelt
said "prosecutionm of war requires every possible protection against espionage...(Document C)" this was the primaray reason
for the removal of Japanese from their societies. ~Although most o these Japanese were American citizens it was necessary
to prevent national outrage. This was also a ploy to give Americans the feeling that everything was under control and they
were more powerful than the Japanese. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a blatant attempt to overthrow our democratic government.
It is unreasonable to believe that the leaders of Japan attacked America with the belief that they were going to lose in the
war, they provoked. The stern action of relocation was to prevent a war and disorder on two fronts, across the Atlantic Ocean
and on our homeland. A chaos of racial tension followed the attacks. The Japanese’s safety was at risk. Angry Americans
were look to seek revenge and they would allow a law of someone’s freedom stop them from avenging the attacks on Pearl
Harbor. It is the governments obligation to protect citizens no matter what the cost, these relocation centers were safe havens
for these Japanese it prevented them from suffering harm, on an emotion psychological and physical level.
During the Red Scare the accusation of someone participating in communist affairs could have them arrested. The repercussions
of participating in communist activity were harsh and stern. The governmental actions were to contain communism. Communism
represented everything that American was not. Anyone to support communist ideas were said to be enemies of the union. Communism
represented tyranny and oppression. Communist in America were said to be enemies of the union because before a communist nation
could be set up there as to be a coup, which an anarchy is established, and then the communist leader has to step forward.
Mitchell Palmer commented that the red are "like a praiie-fire the blaze of revolution was sweeping over every American institution...
Tghe Department of Justice would attack these Reds...(document A), this justified any reason to remove and relocate these
accused redsd because of fear of revolution. `The spread of communism threaten not only the American citizens but their way
of life. Communism represented the complete opposite of capitalism. The attempts to make Americans feel safer even though
most of these individuals were harmless radicals. What these people did was threaten the social system of American and their
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The arrest and conviction of communist were attempts to nip communism
in the bud, in America.
Is the suspension of right ever justified? No, but this wasn’t a suspension of rights. It was a protection of the rights
of other Americans. These violations brought forward the consequences set by the American government. The primary reason to
restricting these individuals’ freedom is the harm and uneasiness that most American got when they felt their lives
and social systems where at stake. Whether justified or not it made the American citizen much more comfortable.
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