The Atlantic Charter, created during World War II, is the small spark that eventually led to the creation of the United Nations. It was never signed, but many nations still had abided to live by it. Issued on August 14, 1941, it was a charter to help govern all nations in pursuit of a better world. In order for the creators of the charter to obtain a better world they established eight key principles. In these principles they call for high economic standards, freedom from persecutions, freedom from territorial expansions, the disarmament of violent nations, democracy, and a greater force to govern the world for all peoples and all nations.
Before supporting the purpose of the Atlantic Charter, it is best to understand the background of the document. The two main people involved were conservative Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain, and the thirty-second president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt. They met on August ninth through the twelfth of 1941 at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Churchill and his advisors arrived on the HMS Prince of Wales and Roosevelt on the USS Augusta.
This meeting was a secret conference called the Atlantic Conference. Even though the U.S. had not entered into World War II at the time, the meeting was to discuss a way to better the world after the defeat of the Axis powers in the war. It also created an alliance between Britain and the U.S. All together, 15 nations had signed the Atlantic Charter to win the battle against the Axis powers. The importance of this document varies. For one, it was the first time that America decided to play an international role in foreign humanist
affairs. The charter also gave a sign that the United States was possibly ready to join in World War II with their military involvement. Prior, when England came under siege the United States had provided all possible aid except military. The most famous value of this document is the future creation of the United Nations, an international form of government to oversee all activities of other nations.
In the Atlantic Charter it expresses the right of all nations to achieve the highest possible economic standards with the help of free trade. It addresses this issue in the fourth point, “Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect to their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment of all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity.”
Trade gives a nation the chance to prosper by selling their own goods and purchasing goods from others that can help in technological advancements. The British and Americans saw trade as important to a nation’s wealth. After all, both enjoyed their own prosperity due to their ability to trade as far back as the eighteenth century. They also knew the havoc that restricted trade could create. The most recent example would be during World War II and the German U-boats destroying several ships. If all nations were allowed to gain great economic achievements with trade, the world would see tremendous improvement for all citizens and their standard of living.
The Atlantic Charter also address economic wealth in the fifth principle,” Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field, with the object of securing for all improved labour standards, economic advancement, and social security.” This principle clearly states that all nations must agree and work together to help obtain the goal of economic advancement.
As for the labor standards, they needed to be improved for workers on international bases. This concept not only made a better workplace for workers, it guaranteed better motivation in the work field which would create a higher output for businesses and would create skilled workers. Social security also promised to take care of people unable to work. With the economic advancement that the Atlantic Charter hoped to gain, the nations would be able to afford social security to their needy.
The creators of the Atlantic Charter made it known that things such as racial and religious persecutions by fascist were to no longer be tolerated. The sixth point symbolizes this notion,” Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want.” Under Hitler’s rule, the Nazi’s slaughtered many Jewish and those that did not fit the color qualifications of their supposed ideal being.
This so-called ethnic cleansing penetrated into many other European countries during Hitler’s rule and stripped many people of their personal freedoms and struck fear into their lives. For the first time there was a document, signed by two powerful countries, that stood up for the people in international countries against tyrants. The world would never improve if there were a continuous cycle of the Holocaust. This principle also was a sign that the United States of America had also planned to join in the war against the Nazis, remember “final destruction of the Nazi tyranny.”
The Atlantic Charter wanted nations to be free and secure of territorial expansion from outside invaders. Coming from America and Britain, this statement meant that both countries were willing to give up their own history of aggressive expansion and imperialistic attitudes. This also relates to the above paragraph on the sixth principle where men may live free from fear and want. When invaders, seeking to expand their territory, move into another country and try to overthrow the government it suppresses the people. It takes away their chance of a democracy where they may chose their own government and they lose their citizenship and voice. Their vowel to change and help prevent other territorial aggressors was expressed under the first and second principles.
