Live Free or Die
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"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive
independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
historically found in American political philosophy and partly because of its contrast to the milder sentiments found in other state mottos. The phrase was adopted from a toast written by General
John Stark Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Batt ...
, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, on July 31, 1809. Poor health forced Stark to decline an invitation to an anniversary reunion of the
Battle of Bennington The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, part of the Saratoga campaign, that took place on August 16, 1777, on a farm owned by John Green in Walloomsac, New York, about from its namesake, Bennington, Vermont. A r ...
. Instead, he sent his toast by letter: :''Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.'' By the time Stark wrote this, ''Vivre Libre ou Mourir'' ("Live free or die") was already a popular motto of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. The English romantic poet
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
also adopted this Revolutionary motto when he composed the line, "We must be free or die, who speak the tongue that
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
spoke." A possible source of such mottoes is
Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...
's famed March 23, 1775, speech to the
House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...
(the legislative body of the
Virginia colony The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...
), which contained the following phrase: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" The motto was enacted at the same time as the New Hampshire state emblem, on which it appears.


Legal battle

In 1971, the
New Hampshire state legislature The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 memb ...
mandated that the phrase appear on all non-commercial
license plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificatio ...
s, replacing "Scenic." In 1977, the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled in the case of '' Wooley v. Maynard'', 430 U.S. 705, that the state of New Hampshire could not prosecute motorists who chose to hide part or all of the motto. That ruling came about because George Maynard, a
Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
(albeit a disfellowshiped member), covered up "or die" from his plate. "By religious training and belief, I believe my 'government' – Jehovah's Kingdom – offers everlasting life. It would be contrary to that belief to give up my life for the state, even if it meant living in bondage." Pursuant to these beliefs, the Maynards began early in 1974 to cover up the motto on their license plates. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in his favor and likened Maynard's refusal to accept the state motto with the Jehovah's Witness children refusing to salute the American flag in public school in the 1943 decision '' West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette''. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for the majority in Maynard:
We begin with the proposition that the right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against state action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all. Here, as in ''Barnette'', we are faced with a state measure which forces an individual, as part of his daily life indeed constantly while his automobile is in public view to be an instrument for fostering public adherence to an ideological point of view he finds unacceptable. The fact that most individuals agree with the thrust of New Hampshire's motto is not the test; most Americans also find the flag salute acceptable.
The Supreme Court concluded that the state's interests paled in comparison to individuals' free expression rights. In 1987, when New Hampshire introduced new plates with a screened design that had the slogan lightly written on the bottom, some residents complained that the slogan was not prominent enough. One resident cut out the slogan from an older plate and bolted it on the new plate, and was prosecuted for it. The courts ruled in the driver's favor, presumably basing it on the decision in ''Maynard''.


Similar uses

Many mottos and slogans around the world and throughout history have contrasted freedom and death. Some examples: The phrase "Vivre Libre ou Mourir" ("live free or die") was used in the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. It was the subtitle of the journal by
Camille Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Georges Danton when the Committee ...
, titled ''
Le Vieux Cordelier ''Le Vieux Cordelier'' () was a journal published in France between 5 December 1793 and 3 February 1794. Its radical criticism of ultra-revolutionary fervor and repression in France during the Reign of Terror contributed significantly to the downf ...
'', written during the winter of 1793–1794. A medal struck at
Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...
's
Soho Mint Soho Mint was created by Matthew Boulton in 1788 in his Soho Manufactory () in Handsworth, West Midlands, England. A mint was erected at the manufactory containing eight machines, to his own patent design, driven by steam engine, each capable of ...
, as tokens of exchange for the Paris firm of Monneron Freres, 1791–1792, has on its obverse the motto ''Vivre libres ou mourir'' ("Live free or die" in French). During the Siege of Barcelona (25 August 1713 – 11 September 1714) the Barcelona defenders and the Maulets used black flags with the motto "Live free or die", in Catalan "''Viurem lliures o morirem''". Now it is used as a symbol of
Catalan independentism The Catalan independence movement ( ca, independentisme català; Spanish: ''independentismo catalán'') is a social and political movement (with roots in Catalan nationalism) which seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain. The beginnings o ...
. The phrase "Antes morrer livres que em Paz sujeitos" (English: Rather die free than in peace be subjugated) is contained in a 1582 letter reply to King Philip II of Spain from the Portuguese governor of the Azores, Ciprião de Figueiredo. It has been adopted as the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
motto and is present in the autonomous region's
Coat-of-Arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...
. The
Declaration of Arbroath The Declaration of Arbroath ( la, Declaratio Arbroathis; sco, Declaration o Aiberbrothock; gd, Tiomnadh Bhruis) is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John ...
of 1320, the document in which the Scottish nobility appealed to Pope John XXII to recognise Scotland's independence from England, contains the oft-cited line, "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself." On January 1, 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed Haiti, then a French slave colony, to be free and independent. Dessalines is said to have torn the white section from the French tricolor flag while shouting, "Vivre libre ou mourir!", which means "live free or die." The first Convention of the Delegates of the Scottish Friends of the People in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
on 11–13 December 1792 used the phrase "live free or die" and referred to it as a "French oath". *"Свобода или смърт" (Svoboda ili smart – "Freedom or death") was the motto of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee during the struggle for national independence in the 19th century. The motto is displayed on most revolutionary flags during the
April uprising of 1876 The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...
.


National mottos

* "''Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος''" ('' Eleutheria i thanatos'' – " Freedom or
death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
") is the national motto of Greece and comes from the motto of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830). *"''Մահ կամ Ազատություն''" ("Mah kam Azatutiun" – "Freedom or death") was the motto of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...
during the movement for Armenia's independence. *"''Libertad o Muerte''" – "Liberty or Death" is the national motto of
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. "''Libertad o con gloria morir''" ("Thou liberty or die in glory") is part of the National Anthem of Uruguay. *"''Independência, ou morte!''" – "Independence or death", was the national motto of the
Brazilian Empire The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom P ...
. *"''Ya istiklal ya ölüm''" – "Independence or death", was the motto of the Turkish resistance during the
Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement ( tr, Türk Ulusal Hareketi) encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the def ...
and the Turkish
Liberation War Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...
. *"''
Eala Frya Fresena ''Eala Frya Fresena'' is the motto for the coat of arms of East Frisia in northern Germany. The motto is often mistranslated as "Hail, free Frisians!", but it was the reversal of the feudal prostration and is better translated as "Stand up, free ...
''" – "Rise up, Free Frisians", according to Tilemann Dothias Wiarda (1777) spoken at the Upstalsboom in
Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', stq, Aurk) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both i ...
in Later Middle Ages. Since the middle of the 19th century Frisian nationalists tend to answer it with "Lewwer duad üs Slaav", or "Better dead than a slave." *"''Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la mort''" – "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death" was the early motto of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. Later versions dropped "ou la mort". The full motto is still displayed above the entrance of the Hotel de Ville in Troyes. * The
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n national anthem,
Deșteaptă-te, române! "" ("Awaken Thee, Romanian!"; ) is the national anthem of Romania and former national anthem of Moldova. The lyrics were composed by Andrei Mureșanu (1816–1863), and the music was popular (it was chosen for the poem by Gheorghe Ucenescu, as ...
, contains the line "''„Viața-n libertate ori moarte!" strigă toți''", meaning Life in freedom or death!' shout all". * "Ӏожалла я маршо" (" Jozhalla ya marsho") – " Death or Freedom", The national anthem and slogan of the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (; ce, Нохчийн Республик Ичкери, Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri; russian: Чеченская Республика Ичкерия; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI") was a ''de facto'' state that ...
, 1991–1996. * "Bolje grob nego rob, Bolje rat nego pakt" – "Better the grave than a slave, better a war than the pact" was the motto of Yugoslav demonstrators during the Yugoslav coup d'état of 1941, which started when the Yugoslav government signed a pact with the Axis powers. *"''Воля України або смерть''" – "Volya Ukrayiny abo smert" – "Freedom of Ukraine or death" was a motto of Ukrainian rebels of Kholodny Yar republic during
Ukrainian War of Independence The Ukrainian War of Independence was a series of conflicts involving many adversaries that lasted from 1917 to 1921 and resulted in the establishment and development of a Ukrainian republic, most of which was later absorbed into the Soviet U ...
and later one of the mottos adopted by the protesters of Euromaidan.


Free State Project

The motto is one of the 101 reasons cited by the
Free State Project The Free State Project (FSP) is an American political migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold ...
, a libertarian organization, for the choice of New Hampshire as their destination.


Other uses

"Live Free or Die" is popular among
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
users, a group which also cherishes its independence. The popularity dates to the 1980s, when
Armando Stettner Armando P. Stettner is a computer engineer and architect who is most widely known for Unix development and for spearheading the native VAX version of UNIX, Ultrix, during his tenure at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Biography Stettner starte ...
of
Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president un ...
(DEC) had a set of Unix license plates printed up and given away at a USENIX conference. They were modeled on the license plates in New Hampshire, where DEC's Unix Engineering Group was headquartered. Stettner lived in New Hampshire at the time and used the vanity license plate UNIX. When DEC came out with its own Unix version, Ultrix, they printed up Ultrix plates that were distributed at trade shows.


In popular culture


Books

*''Live Free or Die'' is the title of a 1990 novel by New Hampshire writer
Ernest Hebert Ernest Hebert (born May 4, 1941) is an American author. He is best known for the Darby Chronicles Series, which is a series of seven novels written between 1979 and 2014 about modern life in a fictional New Hampshire town as it transitions from r ...
. *''Live Free Or Die'' is the first book in
John Ringo John Ringo (born March 22, 1963) is an American science fiction and military fiction author. He has had several ''New York Times'' best sellers. His books range from straightforward science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers ...
's Troy Rising
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
series. *"Live Free Or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink" is the title of a 2020 book by
Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commen ...
.


TV

*"
Live Free or Die "Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive independence historically found in American pol ...
" is the title of the sixth episode of the sixth season of the TV show ''
The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...
''. It concerns a captain in the New Jersey mafia who hides in New Hampshire after being outed as a homosexual. *"
Live Free or Die "Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive independence historically found in American pol ...
" is the title of the first episode of the fifth season of '' Breaking Bad''. *''Live Free or Die'' is the title of a National Geographic Channel show that premiered on September 30, 2014.National Geographic: Live Free or Die
/ref>


Film

* ''Live Free or Die'', a 2000 documentary about abortion * ''Live Free or Die'', a 2006 comedy movie *''
Live Free or Die Hard ''Live Free or Die Hard'' (released as ''Die Hard 4.0'' outside North America) is a 2007 American action-thriller film directed by Len Wiseman, and serves as the fourth installment in the ''Die Hard'' film series. It is based on the 1997 arti ...
'', a 2007 movie, the fourth in the ''Die Hard'' series


Music

*''Live Free or Die'', a 2004 album by Vancouver punk group
D.O.A. DOA may refer to: * Dead on arrival * Dead or Alive (disambiguation) Film * ''D.O.A.'' (1949 film), a ''film noir'' * ''D.O.A.'' (1988 film), a remake of the 1949 film * '' D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage'' (1980 film), a documentary on the gene ...
*
Bill Morrissey Bill Morrissey (November 25, 1951 – July 23, 2011) was a Grammy-nominated American folk singer-songwriter based in New Hampshire. Early life Morrissey was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Growing up in Connecticut and Massachusetts, he start ...
wrote a song titled "Live Free or Die" about the irony of a prisoner serving time in New Hampshire's jails and hand-stamping license plates with the state motto. It was covered by
Hayes Carll Joshua Hayes Carll (born January 9, 1976), known professionally as Hayes Carll, is a singer-songwriter. A native of The Woodlands, Texas, his style of roots-oriented songwriting has been noted for its plainspoken poetry and sarcastic humor. C ...
on his 2002 album ''Flowers and Liquor''. *"Vivre Libre ou Mourir" ("Live Free or Die") by
Bérurier Noir Bérurier noir is a French punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk ro ...
, a French punk rock band


See also

* ''
Join, or Die ''Join, or Die.'' is a political cartoon showing the disunity in the American colonies. Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the original publication by '' The Pennsylvania Gazette'' on May 9, 1754, is the earliest known pictorial representation of ...
'' *
Battle of Warns The Battle of Warns ( fy, Slach by Warns; nl, Slag bij Warns) was a battle of the Friso-Hollandic Wars between Count William IV of Holland and the Frisians which took place on 26 September 1345. The annual commemoration of the battle is importa ...
("Better to be dead than a slave") *
Free State Project The Free State Project (FSP) is an American political migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold ...
– movement aiming to move 20,000 libertarians to New Hampshire, in part, inspired by state motto * Liberty or death, for uses of a similar motto


References


External links


''Boston Globe'' article about the use of the motto in popular culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Live Free Or Die Political catchphrases Mottos State mottos of the United States Symbols of New Hampshire Liberty symbols