Rhetorical Analysis

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Today, when Americans think of the United States, they think of “the land of the free, and the home of the brave”. They think of liberty, and freedom, and independence. But, Americans often forget that there were points in our history where we weren’t quite as free as we think we are today. The federal government was once a smaller, less powerful entity that did not do much to protect our rights and freedoms. But, towards the end of the 19th century, the role of the government began to change. Corporate corruption, economic turmoil, war, and changing ideas of freedom slowly led to the expansion of the federal government. For a long time, the U.S. was the home of laissez-fare capitalism. This was a hands-off approach adopted by the federal …show more content…

Progressives maintained that unions were an important part of liberty in America, as they empower workers to take part in decision-making. Even so, the formation of unions and the rights of the workers to collective bargaining were resisted by companies, courts, and conservatives. More free speech cases were brought to the court in the first decade of the 1900s than in the entire previous century. World War One made a significant impact on the fight for free speech protections. The rhetoric used to justify entering the war- the idea that America is a defender of liberty- was also applied at home. The struggle in Europe was the struggle for freedom- something Americans could fight for at home as well as abroad. Despite these ideas, the federal government did more to harm the movements of the working class than it did to help them. The Espionage Act if 1917 criminalized disagreeing with the federal government. In September 1917, hundreds of leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World were arrested. Many states outlawed “foreign” languages in schools. Being an immigrant became equal to being a criminal. Unionism and socialism were depicted in the media as threats to the American way of life, and corporations decided the best way to stamp out dissent was to “Americanize” their

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