Our Thesis
According to Orlando Patterson in Freedom in the Making of Western Culture, he states how every human being has a certain undeniable right to do as they will, called sovereignal freedom: "This is simply the power to act as one pleases, regardless of the wishes of others..." (3).
Everyone is born with the same sovereignal freedoms described by Patterson, but other people acting on their own freedom, limits that. Whether or not it is a simple dispute of personal power, one party is always overpowering and subduing another.
We look at certain presidents throughout U.S. history and how their actions affected the citizens they served, for every step they take carves and redistributes freedoms among everyone who have lived in the USA.
Everyone is born with the same sovereignal freedoms described by Patterson, but other people acting on their own freedom, limits that. Whether or not it is a simple dispute of personal power, one party is always overpowering and subduing another.
We look at certain presidents throughout U.S. history and how their actions affected the citizens they served, for every step they take carves and redistributes freedoms among everyone who have lived in the USA.
Our PurposeOur goal is to get people to think about what freedoms they have and what freedoms are restricted by those around them.
Every human being has unlimited rights at birth, but, as others around them act on their freedoms, social norms and rules are established that severely limit what the individual can do. Ranging from general laws to bills that go against an entire people, some force is always promoting or hindering freedom. As you continue to explore this website, keep the following question in mind: "Who is affecting your freedom?" |
Why These Presidents?
History has it's fair share of tyrants and heroes, and the US presidents are no exception. For our project, we wanted to keep a balance of presidents that have both endorsed freedom and taken it away. In addition, it's also nice to keep a modern and historical view, so we have included presidents throughout the life span of the USA. Finally, we have decided to go with more popular presidents, so that everyone has a base knowledge of who their reading about before exploring our idea of freedom.
Timeline
The history of each presidency listed above in a Sutori timeline.
ASR Screen Record of Timeline, with Captions
Work Cited
- CC BY-NC, “Andrew Jackson”, Courtesy of Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl on Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY-NC, “Abraham Lincoln”, Courtesy of Anthony Berger on Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY-NC, “Barack Obama”, Courtesy of Pete Souza on Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY-NC, “Donald Trump”, Courtesy of Shealah Craighead on Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY-NC, “Lyndon B. Johnson”, Courtesy of Yoichi Okamoto on Wikimedia Commons