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"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 speaks to an assertive independence historically found in American political philosophy and partly because of its contrast to the milder sentiments found in other state mottos. The phrase comes from a toast written by General John Stark, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the American Revolutionary War, on July 31, 1809. Poor health forced Stark to decline an invitation to an anniversary reunion of the Battle of Bennington. Instead, he sent his toast by letter: :''Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.'' Stark may not have been the original author of the phrase. ''Vivre Libre ou Mourir'' ("Live free or die") was a popular motto of the French Revolution, which the politician Antoine Barnave had engraved on his buttons.〔Simon Schama. ''Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution''. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. p. 557〕 The motto was enacted at the same time as the New Hampshire state emblem, on which it appears.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=State emblems, flag, etc/ )〕 ==Legal battle== In 1971, the New Hampshire state legislature mandated that the phrase appear on all non-commercial license plates, replacing "Scenic." In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court 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, 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. He was convicted of breaking a state law against altering 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''. "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," Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for the majority in Maynard. "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," Burger wrote. The Supreme Court concluded that the state's interests paled in comparison to individuals' free-expression rights. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Live Free or Die」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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