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The letter wasn’t about liberty but about taxes and the ability to “raise money for defense against French and Indian attacks. “The letter was a salvo in a power struggle between the governor and the assembly over funding for security on the frontier, one in which the assembly wished to tax the lands of the Penn family,” he explains. Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.Īccording to Wittes, the words appear in a letter widely presumed to be written by Franklin in 1755 on behalf of the Pennsylvania Assembly to the colonial governor. For instance, here was Reddit’s front page two days ago, when it officially joined the fight against Internet and phone spying.Īs the Brookings Institute’s Benjamin Wittes observes, “Very few people who quote these words, however, have any idea where they come from or what Franklin was really saying when he wrote them.”ĭespite its many (many) variations, this is the actual quote: The quote has been the siren song of anti-war protesters and, most recently, the banner for mass online protests against the NSA’s surveillance program. You might have heard that American founding father Benjamin Franklin said something like “Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.”
#Those who give up liberty free
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You have the right to marry and enjoy family relationships.
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#Those who give up liberty trial
The right to a fair trial and no punishment without law: you are innocent until proven guilty.The right to liberty and freedom: you have the right to be free and the State can only imprison you with very good reason – for example, if you are convicted of a crime.Protection against slavery and forced labour: you should not be treated like a slave or subjected to forced labour.The prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment: you should never be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way, no matter what the situation.The State is required to investigate suspicious deaths and deaths in custody. The right to life: protects your life, by law.What rights does the Human Rights Act protect?
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