Post by devinc07 on Nov 11, 2007 23:28:26 GMT -5
Devin Cline
Period 7
American Voices Essay
Word Count: 500
Controlling Through Anxiety: From the Puritans to the Patriot Act
In his Rites of Assent, Sacvan Bercovitch wrote that “Anxiety became [the Puritans’] chief means of establishing control.” Although these words were written about the earliest Americans living in the 1600s, they are still applicable to modern America.
In the months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress passed several bills extending governmental authority, the most significant of which was the USA PATRIOT Act. The Patriot Act expands the powers of the government beyond its constitutional boundaries and infringes upon the Bill of Rights, and it would not have been passed in Congress, nor would the American public have accepted it, at any other point in time than the period immediately following 9/11. The government used the anxiety created by 9/11 to gain power by expanding its authority beyond its usual capacity.
This series of events is reflected in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, which depicts the Salem Witch Trials of Puritan New England. In the play, Abigail and the judges use the anxiety created by suspicions of witchcraft to assert their control over Salem and gain power, much like the government used the anxiety of 9/11 in twenty-first century America. As a result of these extensions of power, the court of Salem no longer relied on evidence to convict citizens, but instead condemned them based solely upon suspicions and allegations of witchcraft.
The Patriot Act “allows FBI Agents to investigate American citizens for criminal matters without probable cause of crime if they say it is for ‘intelligence purposes’” (ACLU). This infringes upon our Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures because it allows the government to investigate citizens without having any reason to believe they are involved in criminal activities, and gives them the power to do so without requiring a warrant. This clause effectively eliminates the necessity for evidence to investigate citizens, just as the court from The Crucible disregarded evidence and did not consider it necessary to bring citizens up on criminal charges.
The Act also “permits non-citizens to be jailed based on mere suspicion” and to be detained indefinitely (ACLU). This infringes upon the Fourteenth Amendment right of all persons within the US to due process of the law, which includes the prerequisite of a fair trial for an extended imprisonment. Similarly to the court in Miller’s play, this clause allows people on the outskirts of the consensus to be imprisoned without a fair and unbiased trial. It allows non-citizens to be jailed without being charged for a crime just as social outcasts in Salem were executed based only on unconfirmed allegations that they had committed witchcraft.
Bercovitch’s assertion that anxiety is used as the chief means of establishing control holds true for the Puritans of Arthur Miller’s play as well our modern American government and their instatement of the Patriot Act during a time of great fear and anxiety.
www.aclu.org/safefree/resources/17343res20031114.html
Period 7
American Voices Essay
Word Count: 500
Controlling Through Anxiety: From the Puritans to the Patriot Act
In his Rites of Assent, Sacvan Bercovitch wrote that “Anxiety became [the Puritans’] chief means of establishing control.” Although these words were written about the earliest Americans living in the 1600s, they are still applicable to modern America.
In the months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress passed several bills extending governmental authority, the most significant of which was the USA PATRIOT Act. The Patriot Act expands the powers of the government beyond its constitutional boundaries and infringes upon the Bill of Rights, and it would not have been passed in Congress, nor would the American public have accepted it, at any other point in time than the period immediately following 9/11. The government used the anxiety created by 9/11 to gain power by expanding its authority beyond its usual capacity.
This series of events is reflected in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, which depicts the Salem Witch Trials of Puritan New England. In the play, Abigail and the judges use the anxiety created by suspicions of witchcraft to assert their control over Salem and gain power, much like the government used the anxiety of 9/11 in twenty-first century America. As a result of these extensions of power, the court of Salem no longer relied on evidence to convict citizens, but instead condemned them based solely upon suspicions and allegations of witchcraft.
The Patriot Act “allows FBI Agents to investigate American citizens for criminal matters without probable cause of crime if they say it is for ‘intelligence purposes’” (ACLU). This infringes upon our Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures because it allows the government to investigate citizens without having any reason to believe they are involved in criminal activities, and gives them the power to do so without requiring a warrant. This clause effectively eliminates the necessity for evidence to investigate citizens, just as the court from The Crucible disregarded evidence and did not consider it necessary to bring citizens up on criminal charges.
The Act also “permits non-citizens to be jailed based on mere suspicion” and to be detained indefinitely (ACLU). This infringes upon the Fourteenth Amendment right of all persons within the US to due process of the law, which includes the prerequisite of a fair trial for an extended imprisonment. Similarly to the court in Miller’s play, this clause allows people on the outskirts of the consensus to be imprisoned without a fair and unbiased trial. It allows non-citizens to be jailed without being charged for a crime just as social outcasts in Salem were executed based only on unconfirmed allegations that they had committed witchcraft.
Bercovitch’s assertion that anxiety is used as the chief means of establishing control holds true for the Puritans of Arthur Miller’s play as well our modern American government and their instatement of the Patriot Act during a time of great fear and anxiety.
www.aclu.org/safefree/resources/17343res20031114.html