In one of his most famous speeches made to a special session of Congress on July 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln uttered this now immortal remark that encapsulates well the tension between security and liberty:
It (The Civil War) presents the question, whether discontented individuals, too few in numbers to control administration, according to organic law, in any case, can always, upon the pretenses made in this case, or on any other pretenses, or arbitrarily, without any pretense, break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: "Is there, in all republics, this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a Government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"
Though Lincoln was clearly dealing here with problems specific to the Civil War, the issues he raises are as relevant today as they were then. Is it possible for a government, which has as its first duty the protection of life, to also protect the rights and freedoms of its people? Does the government on occasion have to sacrifice freedom and liberty for security? If so, what is to prevent it from abusing its power? Conversely, are there any rights that the government must hold inviolable, i.e., that under no circumstances may it infringe upon these rights? If so, what are these rights, and what makes them so important? Have these issues changed at all because of the proliferation of cybertechnology and the different environment in which we live? Be sure to use reliable sources from the web (based on the instruction provided by the Searchpath tutorial) to support your argument.
Each group must email a response of no more that 600 words in .rtf format to briane@latech.edu and jmhire@latech.edu by 8am on Thursday, June 4. Please remember to omit all identifying information from the essay and name the file a random four-digit number, e.g. 5432.rtf.
It (The Civil War) presents the question, whether discontented individuals, too few in numbers to control administration, according to organic law, in any case, can always, upon the pretenses made in this case, or on any other pretenses, or arbitrarily, without any pretense, break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: "Is there, in all republics, this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a Government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"
Though Lincoln was clearly dealing here with problems specific to the Civil War, the issues he raises are as relevant today as they were then. Is it possible for a government, which has as its first duty the protection of life, to also protect the rights and freedoms of its people? Does the government on occasion have to sacrifice freedom and liberty for security? If so, what is to prevent it from abusing its power? Conversely, are there any rights that the government must hold inviolable, i.e., that under no circumstances may it infringe upon these rights? If so, what are these rights, and what makes them so important? Have these issues changed at all because of the proliferation of cybertechnology and the different environment in which we live? Be sure to use reliable sources from the web (based on the instruction provided by the Searchpath tutorial) to support your argument.
Each group must email a response of no more that 600 words in .rtf format to briane@latech.edu and jmhire@latech.edu by 8am on Thursday, June 4. Please remember to omit all identifying information from the essay and name the file a random four-digit number, e.g. 5432.rtf.
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