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The Atlantic Charter Your name

UNITED STATES & UNITED KINGDOM | 1941

In August 1941, U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston
Churchill met for the first of what would eventually be 11 conferences between the two men
during World War II. Their meeting, which took place in secret on naval vessels anchored
in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland,1 resulted in this statement of goals for the postwar world;
eventually all allied nations in World War II accepted the document and its principles. This
charter is considered one of the first steps toward the establishment of the United Nations.

T
1 he President of The United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill,
representing His Majesty’s2 Government in The United Kingdom, being met to-
gether, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies
of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world.3

5
1 Their countries seek no aggrandize-
ment, territorial or other;
35 peace which will afford to all nations the
means of dwelling in safety within their
own boundaries, and which will afford as-

10
2 They desire to see no territorial changes
that do not accord with the freely ex-
pressed wishes of the peoples concerned; 40
surance that all the men in all lands may
live out their lives in freedom from fear and
want;
NOTES

3 They respect the right of all peoples to

choose the form of government under
which they will live; and they wish to see
15 sovereign rights and self government re-
stored to those who have been forcibly de-
prived of them;
7 Such a peace should enable all men to
traverse the high seas and oceans with-
out hindrance;
1 Today Newfoundland,
whose full name is New-
foundland and Labrador,
is a province of Canada; at
the time of Roosevelt and
45 Churchill’s meeting it was
8 They believe that all of the nations of
the world, for realistic as well as spiritu-
al reasons must come to the abandonment
a self-governing part of the
British Commonwealth.
2 His Majesty: British king
George VI, who reigned

20 4 They will endeavor, with due respect

for their existing obligations, to further
the enjoyment by all States, great or small,
victor or vanquished, of access, on equal
terms, to the trade and to the raw materi-
als of the world which are needed for their
25 economic prosperity;
50
of the use of force. Since no future peace
can be maintained if land, sea or air arma-
ments continue to be employed by nations
from 1936 until his death
in 1952; his daughter is the
current queen, Elizabeth II.
3 The small caps and italics
which threaten, or may threaten, aggres- in this paragraph match
those in a 1940s printing of
sion outside of their frontiers, they believe, the Atlantic Charter.
pending the establishment of a wider and
55 permanent system of general security, that
the disarmament of such nations is essen-

5
They desire to bring about the fullest
collaboration between all nations in the
Layout, introduction, and
tial. They will likewise aid and encourage footnotes © 2019 Dustin Tyler Joyce.
All rights reserved.
all other practicable measure which will April 2019 | dtjoyce.com

economic field with the object of securing,
30 for all, improved labor standards, econom-
ic advancement and social security;
lighten for peace-loving peoples the crush- Copies of this document may be made
only by the original purchaser for use in a
60 ing burden of armaments. classroom or other educational setting.
This copyright notice should appear on all
copies made.
Source of text: The Avalon Project, Yale
Franklin D. Roosevelt Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library

6 After the final destruction of the Nazi Winston S. Churchill 1940s print of the Atlantic Charter:
National Archives and Records Administra-
tyranny, they hope to see established a August 14, 1941 tion, catalog.archives.gov/id/513885