How central is the notion of freedom in the United-States?

« How central is the notion of freedom in the United-States? OVERVIEW OF LANDMARKS AND PEOPLE TO REMEMBER UNTIL THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT XVIIth century settlement in North America • English people, but also Dutch, Spanish, French emigrated to America where they settled in the first 13 colonies. • Some of the settlers fled Europe to seek religious freedom, others to seek economic prosperity. America was seen as the “promised land”. 1620 – The Pilgrim Fathers In September 1620, 100 English passengers set sail from Plymouth on board the Mayflower.

40 of these passengers were Protestant separatists looking for religious freedom.

They are remembered as The Pilgrim Fathers. Towards The War of Independen ce/America n Revolutiona ry War • Although the settlers were granted religious freedom, they were still under British rule.

They paid taxes to the English government even though they had no representatives in the British Parliament. • The settlers felt more and more resentful not only because they had to buy goods from the British but also because they had to pay tax on those goods. • The Boston Tea Party is the name given to a political protest which took place on December 16, 1773.

“American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbour.

This act of defiance rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for Independence. • All those tensions led to the Revolutionary War 1775-1783 • On July 4th 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the delegates from the 13 colonies. Land of freedom, early paradoxes • First Nations Americans / Native American had to relinquish / abandon their territories.

Many were massacred. • Slavery: As the southern states depended mainly on tobacco and cotton plantations, they needed labour force and thus used slaves brought from Africa. • The only people who could vote were white men who owned property. The road to freedom, a long & winding road • President Andrew Jackson’s new democracy: Profound social and economic changes in the 19th century led President Jackson to believe that power should not solely be in the hands of a small minority of “aristocrats” and landowners. • The Jacksonian policy allowed “The Common Man” to vote: most white men over the age of 21 were allowed to vote. • However, while white men were given more rights, black Americans and native Americans saw their rights regress. President from1829 to1837 Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War A divided Nation The Civil War, 1861-1865 • In the USA, the 19th century was an era of tremendous growth with widening differences between the North and the South. • The Civil war began in 1861 after decades of tension between the northern and the southern states over slavery. • While the North mainly relied on manufacturing, industry and small farms, the South relied on large cotton and tobacco plantations which depended on the labour of enslaved black people. • Abraham Lincoln’s main reason for waging war was to preserve the union of the United States and then to end slavery. • By 1861, a year after Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the South had seceded from the North and become a Confederation of states which feared losing their economic model. • Slavery was abolished in 1865 • Abraham Lincoln was assassinated the same year while attending a play. From the end of slavery to the fight for Civil Rights • Jim Crow Laws: Just after the ratification of the 13th amendment abolishing slavery, the Jim Crow laws were voted in many southern states.

They legalised racial segregation. • KU Klux Klan: After the war,violence was on the rise, making danger a regular aspect of African American life.

Black schools were vandalized and destroyed, and bands.... »