The Atlantic Genealogy of Human Rights: Tracing the Dutch Origins of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms and the Architecture of the United Nations
Introduction: The Rhetorical Pivot of the Twentieth Century
On the afternoon of January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the United States Congress, delivering a State of the Union message that would transcend the immediate exigencies of the Second World War to become the foundational manifesto of the modern international order. At that moment, the United States stood precariously on the precipice of global conflict. The Axis powers had subjugated much of Europe; the Battle of Britain had raged in the skies over London; and the shadow of totalitarianism threatened to eclipse the democratic experiments of the West. In this atmosphere of existential dread, Roosevelt did not merely ask for appropriations or armaments; he articulated a moral vision for a post-war world founded upon four essential human freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.1
While historians have long analyzed the "Four Freedoms" speech as a masterpiece of American political rhetoric—a tool designed to dismantle isolationism and prepare a reluctant populace for the inevitability of war—a forensic examination of its intellectual and genealogical underpinnings reveals a more complex lineage. The Four Freedoms were not solely the product of American constitutionalism or New Deal progressivism. Rather, they represented the culmination of a transatlantic value system with deep roots in the Dutch Republic of the 17th century. The specific formulation of these freedoms, particularly the emphasis on freedom of conscience and the collective security implied by "freedom from fear," resonates profoundly with the historical experiences of the President's ancestors in the Netherlands.4
This report posits that the architecture of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the institutionalized legacy of this Dutch-American symbiosis. By tracing the trajectory of the Roosevelt family from the polders of Zeeland to the White House, and examining the specific historical interactions between the Roosevelt administration and the Dutch government-in-exile during World War II, we can discern a clear ideological through-line. The values codified in the Union of Utrecht in 1579—specifically religious tolerance and federal cooperation against tyranny—were metabolized by generations of Roosevelts, re-articulated by FDR in 1941, and finally enshrined in international law by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948.6 This analysis further explores how this heritage is actively preserved today through the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and the Four Freedoms Awards in Middelburg, serving as a living bridge between the ancestral soil of the Roosevelts and the global mandate of the United Nations.
Chapter I: The Ancestral Determinant – The Van Rosevelt Lineage and the Dutch Republic
The Migration from Tholen to New Amsterdam
To comprehend the depth of Franklin Roosevelt’s connection to Dutch values, one must navigate the historical geography of his lineage. The Roosevelt family traces its origins to the province of Zeeland, a maritime region of the Netherlands defined by its perpetual struggle against the encroaching sea—a struggle that engendered a culture of communal cooperation and pragmatic resilience known as the "polder model." Specifically, the family’s roots are located in the village of Oud-Vossemeer on the island of Tholen.5 It was from this stark, wind-swept landscape that Claes Maartensz van Rosevelt emigrated to New Amsterdam (modern-day New York) around 1650.8
Historical records and the Roosevelt family’s own genealogical research have identified a parcel of land in the vicinity of Oud-Vossemeer historically known as "'t Rosevelt," establishing a tangible, physical link between the 32nd President of the United States and the Dutch delta.9 Claes Maartensz did not arrive in the New World as a tabula rasa; he carried with him the cultural and political imprint of the Dutch Golden Age. Mid-17th century Netherlands was a singular entity in a Europe dominated by absolutist monarchies. It was a republic, characterized by a burgeoning mercantile middle class, high literacy rates, and, crucially, a legal framework that afforded unusual protections to individual conscience.10
The transplantation of the Van Rosevelt line to the Hudson Valley created a unique cultural hybrid. While the British eventually conquered New Amsterdam in 1664, renaming it New York, the Dutch patrician families—the Knickerbocracy—maintained a distinct social and cultural identity for centuries. They preserved their Dutch Reformed faith, their emphasis on commerce, and a specific mode of governance that valued tolerance and stability. Franklin Roosevelt, born more than two centuries after this migration, remained acutely aware of this heritage. Although his mother, Sara Delano, famously remarked that her son was "a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all" due to the blending of bloodlines, FDR strongly identified with his patronymic heritage.11 He frequently alluded to his "Dutch blood," attributing his own stubbornness and resilience to the "stiff-necked" character of his ancestors.12
The Rhetorical Utilization of Heritage
Roosevelt’s embrace of his Dutch roots was not merely sentimental; it was political. In a period when the United States was grappling with nativism and isolationism, Roosevelt utilized his heritage to construct a narrative of inclusivity and resistance to tyranny. Addressing the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in 1938—a group often associated with conservative nativism—Roosevelt famously subverted their expectations by declaring, "Remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists".13 By invoking his own Mayflower and Dutch ancestors, he positioned the immigrant experience as central to the American identity, thereby laying the groundwork for a foreign policy that would engage with the world rather than retreat from it.
Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin’s cousin and predecessor, had similarly venerated this connection, frequently referencing the "valiant burgher folk" who had wrung their independence from the cruel strength of Spain.14 For both Roosevelts, the Dutch struggle for independence—the Eighty Years' War—served as a historical parallel to the American Revolution. The narrative of a small, determined republic standing up to a global empire resonated deeply with their political philosophies. When Franklin Roosevelt later articulated the need to stand against the "dictator nations," he was drawing upon a family lore that viewed resistance to hegemony as a hereditary duty.12
Chapter II: The Theology of Freedom – The Union of Utrecht and the Roots of Tolerance
The Union of Utrecht (1579) as a Proto-Constitutional Text
The assertion that the Four Freedoms possess Dutch roots extends beyond the genealogical to the philosophical. The foundational document of the Dutch Republic, the Union of Utrecht, signed in 1579, stands as a critical, if often underappreciated, ancestor to modern human rights charters.6 Formed in the heat of rebellion against Spanish Habsburg rule, the Union of Utrecht united the northern provinces of the Netherlands in a defensive alliance. However, it was far more than a military pact; it contained revolutionary provisions regarding the relationship between the state and the individual conscience.
Article 13 of the Union of Utrecht explicitly guaranteed that "each person shall remain free in his religion and that no one shall be investigated or persecuted because of his religion".15 In the context of the late 16th century, a period defined by violent religious strife and the principle of cuius regio, eius religio (whose realm, his religion), this provision was radical. It established a legal precedent for freedom of conscience—a "freedom of worship"—that predated the Enlightenment and the American Bill of Rights by centuries.6
The Transmission of Values to the American Experiment
This Dutch innovation—the separation of inner conscience from state coercion—did not remain confined to the Low Countries. It traveled across the Atlantic with the settlers of New Netherland and permeated the intellectual climate of the American colonies. Historical analysis suggests a direct intellectual lineage from the Union of Utrecht to the American Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.16 The structure of the Dutch Republic, as a federation of sovereign states united for common defense while retaining internal autonomy, offered a practical model for the American founding fathers.
For Franklin Roosevelt, this history was personal. When he formulated the "Freedom of Worship" as the second of his Four Freedoms 2, he was re-articulating a principle that his ancestors had fought to codify 360 years earlier. While the immediate legal reference for an American president would be the First Amendment, the cultural acceptance of religious pluralism in the Hudson Valley—a distinct feature of its Dutch heritage compared to the Puritan homogeneity of New England—provided the fertile ground for this ideal to flourish in Roosevelt’s worldview. The Dutch tradition did not view tolerance merely as a lack of persecution but as a necessary condition for a prosperous and stable society—a view that aligned perfectly with Roosevelt’s vision for a post-war world.
Furthermore, the "Freedom from Fear" resonates with the Union of Utrecht's primary purpose: collective security. The Dutch provinces understood that their individual survival depended on their union against a larger aggressor. This "polder model" of defense—where the safety of one is linked to the safety of all—mirrors the collective security arrangements Roosevelt would later propose for the United Nations. The concept that peace is indivisible, which underpins the UN Charter, is a geopolitical scaling of the lesson learned in the Dutch struggle for independence: that fragmented states cannot survive against monolithic tyranny.17
Chapter III: The Crucible of 1941 – War, Exile, and the Articulation of the Freedoms
The Geopolitical Context of January 1941
By January 1941, the geopolitical landscape was bleak. The Netherlands had fallen to the Nazi invasion in May 1940, an event marked by the devastating bombing of Rotterdam, which razed the city center and shocked the global conscience.4 The United States remained officially neutral, paralyzed by isolationist sentiment, yet Roosevelt understood that the fall of democratic Europe posed an existential threat to the American way of life.
It was in this crucible that the Four Freedoms speech was forged. Roosevelt’s objective was immediate and pragmatic—he needed to convince Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act to arm Great Britain and the remaining Allies. However, his method was deeply ideological. He sought to reframe the conflict not as a traditional great power struggle over territory, but as a moral crusade for the future of humanity.2
The Drafting of the Manifesto
The genesis of the Four Freedoms text reveals the deliberate nature of Roosevelt's vision. The speech underwent seven drafts, with the famous "Four Freedoms" section being dictated by Roosevelt himself to his advisors Harry Hopkins, Samuel Rosenman, and Robert Sherwood during the drafting of the fourth version.21 As recounted by Rosenman, FDR stared at the ceiling of his study, seemingly conceiving the list in a moment of clarity, before dictating the four points that would define his legacy.
The four freedoms he outlined were:
Freedom of Speech and Expression – everywhere in the world.
Freedom of Every Person to Worship God in his Own Way – everywhere in the world.
Freedom from Want – economic understandings securing a healthy peacetime life.
Freedom from Fear – a worldwide reduction of armaments to prevent aggression.1
The repetition of the phrase "everywhere in the world" signaled a decisive break with isolationism and the adoption of a universalist human rights doctrine. While "Freedom of Speech" and "Freedom of Worship" were rooted in the Anglo-American tradition (and, as noted, the Dutch tradition of the Union of Utrecht), the freedoms from "Want" and "Fear" represented a new, internationalist synthesis. "Freedom from Want" translated the domestic economic security programs of the New Deal into a global expectation, reflecting the Dutch/European understanding of social solidarity. "Freedom from Fear" was a direct response to the totalitarian aggression that had engulfed the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
The Personal Diplomacy of the House of Orange
The connection between FDR and the Netherlands during this period was not abstract; it was intensely personal. Following the German invasion, Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch government went into exile in London, while Crown Princess Juliana and her children sought safety in North America.9
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt developed a close personal friendship with Princess Juliana during her exile. The Roosevelts offered the Dutch royals sanctuary, treating them "as if they were members of our own family".9 Princess Juliana lived for a time in Lee, Massachusetts, near the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park. This proximity allowed for frequent interactions, during which the plight of the occupied Netherlands was a constant topic of conversation.
The destruction of Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland—the very province of Roosevelt’s ancestors—by German bombers in May 1940 provided FDR with a visceral example of what the absence of "Freedom from Fear" meant in practice.9 The "Freedom from Want" was similarly illustrated by the looming specter of the "Hunger Winter" that would eventually ravage the Dutch populace. This personal proximity to the Dutch experience of the war—mediated through his friendship with the Royal Family and his knowledge of the destruction of his ancestral homeland—likely sharpened Roosevelt’s resolve. He was not just fighting for a theoretical democratic Europe; he was fighting for the land of his fathers and the safety of his personal friends.
Chapter IV: The Architecture of Peace – Constructing the United Nations
The Atlantic Charter as the Transatlantic Bridge
The transition from the rhetorical vision of 1941 to the legal reality of 1948 was mediated by the Atlantic Charter. In August 1941, months before the United States officially entered the war, Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland. The resulting document, the Atlantic Charter, was a joint declaration of peace aims that effectively internationalized the Four Freedoms.22
While Churchill was initially hesitant about the breadth of the freedoms—particularly their implications for the British Empire—Roosevelt insisted on the inclusion of the principles of "freedom from fear and want".23 The Charter established that these principles were not merely American domestic policies but the basis for a new world order. This document is widely recognized as the "birth certificate" of the United Nations, confirming that the UN's "genetic code" is composed of the Four Freedoms.23
The Naming of the United Nations
The link between the Four Freedoms and the United Nations is literal as well as philosophical. It was Franklin Roosevelt who coined the name "United Nations," first used in the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942.1 This document committed the Allied powers to the principles of the Atlantic Charter, which had incorporated the Four Freedoms.
The United Nations was designed from its inception to be the institutional vessel for the Four Freedoms. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan later remarked, "No single person was more instrumental in the founding of the United Nations than Franklin Delano Roosevelt... He even gave us our name".1 The organization’s primary mandate was to prevent the recurrence of war (Freedom from Fear) and to promote social progress and better standards of life (Freedom from Want).
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
While Franklin Roosevelt provided the vision and the name, it was Eleanor Roosevelt who engineered the codification of these ideals. Following Franklin's death in 1945, Eleanor was appointed as a delegate to the UN General Assembly and subsequently elected chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights.1 In this role, she presided over the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The influence of the Four Freedoms on the UDHR is absolute and explicit. The Preamble of the Declaration cites them directly:
"Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people..." 1
This inclusion was not a passive homage; it was an active operationalization of FDR’s wartime goals. Eleanor Roosevelt ensured that the "Freedom from Want"—often controversial in capitalist societies wary of socialism—was enshrined through specific articles guaranteeing rights to social security, work, and an adequate standard of living. Similarly, "Freedom from Fear" was translated into rights to life, liberty, and security of person. Eleanor’s work bridged the gap between the Dutch-influenced ideals of her husband and the global consensus required for the new international organization.
Chapter V: The Return to Zeeland – Eleanor’s Pilgrimage and the Institutional Legacy
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Visit to Oud-Vossemeer (1950)
The connection between the United Nations and the Dutch soil was symbolically sealed in 1950, when Eleanor Roosevelt visited the Netherlands. During this trip, she made a pilgrimage to the village of Oud-Vossemeer in Zeeland, the ancestral home of the Roosevelt family.25 This visit was not merely a tourist excursion; it was a diplomatic and symbolic affirmation of the family's roots.
Arriving in the village, Eleanor was greeted by the local populace and officials. While the original Roosevelt house on Raadhuisstraat had disappeared, she visited the Ambachtshuis and viewed the 16th-century maps showing the parcel of land named "'t Rosevelt".9 This visit, captured in her syndicated column "My Day," served to publicly reconnect the global human rights agenda she was championing at the UN with the specific local history of her husband's family.27 It closed the circle: the values that had left Zeeland in the 17th century had returned, borne by the widow of the American President, as a shield against future tyranny in Europe.
The Founding of the Four Freedoms Awards (1982)
The institutionalization of this bond occurred three decades later, in 1982. This year marked a dual anniversary: the centennial of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s birth and the bicentennial of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands.25 To honor this shared history, the Roosevelt Institute in New York and the Province of Zeeland collaborated to establish the Four Freedoms Awards.
The decision to locate the international ceremony in Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland, was explicitly motivated by the "suspected descendance of the family Roosevelt from the village of Oud-Vossemeer".29 This transformed the genealogical link into an active geopolitical instrument. The awards are structured to alternate annually: in odd-numbered years, they are presented in the United States to American citizens; in even-numbered years, they are presented in Middelburg to non-Americans.28
The Middelburg ceremony is held in the Nieuwe Kerk, part of the medieval Abbey complex.31 This setting is profoundly symbolic. The Abbey, once the seat of the prelates of Zeeland and later the provincial government, stands as a testament to the region’s history of governance and resistance. The city of Middelburg itself, having risen from the ashes of the 1940 bombing, serves as a living monument to the "Freedom from Fear."
William vanden Heuvel and the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies
A pivotal figure in the solidification of this transatlantic legacy was Ambassador William vanden Heuvel. A diplomat, lawyer, and fierce guardian of the Roosevelt legacy, vanden Heuvel played a crucial role in the establishment of the Four Freedoms Park in New York and was instrumental in the creation of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg.32
Founded in 1986 and located in the Abbey of Middelburg, the RIAS functions as the academic custodian of the Four Freedoms legacy.5 Funded in part by the Province of Zeeland and the Dutch Ministry of Education, the Institute houses extensive archives on US presidential history and conducts research into transatlantic relations. Its existence ensures that the history of the Four Freedoms is studied not as an isolated American phenomenon, but as a shared Atlantic heritage. Vanden Heuvel’s work underscored the conviction that the United Nations and the Four Freedoms were the result of a specific historical partnership, one that required active maintenance through education and commemoration.
Laureates as Living Monuments
The Four Freedoms Awards in Middelburg have recognized a diverse array of global figures, further cementing the universality of the Dutch-American vision. The first International Four Freedoms Award was presented in 1982 to Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, honoring her personal friendship with the Roosevelts and her role as a symbol of Dutch resistance and reconstruction.34
Subsequent laureates have included Nelson Mandela (2002), who embodied the struggle for freedom from the fear of apartheid; the Dalai Lama (1994), representing freedom of worship and conscience; and Angela Merkel (2016), recognized for her leadership in Europe.8 These awards do more than honor individuals; they perpetually reassert the Dutch-American foundation of international human rights. They serve as a biennial reminder that the United Nations' core principles have a specific geographic and intellectual heritage that continues to resonate in contemporary geopolitics.
Conclusion: The Transatlantic Feedback Loop
The narrative that the Four Freedoms—and by extension the United Nations—are solely American inventions is historically incomplete. They are, in fact, the product of a dynamic transatlantic feedback loop that spans more than three centuries. This cycle began in the 17th century, when the Dutch Republic provided a model of religious tolerance and federalism—codified in the Union of Utrecht—that influenced the American founding fathers and was carried physically to the New World by the Van Rosevelt family.
It continued as generations of Roosevelts preserved a distinct Dutch identity, characterizing themselves as "stiff-necked" in the face of adversity and committed to the welfare of the community. It culminated in the mid-20th century, when Franklin D. Roosevelt, witnessing the devastation of his ancestral land and the persecution of his royal friends, articulated a universal vision of freedom that blended American optimism with Dutch resilience. The "Freedom from Fear" was a direct response to the bombing of Middelburg; the "Freedom of Worship" was an echo of the article 13 of the Union of Utrecht.
Eleanor Roosevelt then wove these threads into the fabric of the United Nations, creating a Universal Declaration that speaks with a voice both American and European. Today, the Four Freedoms Awards in Zeeland do not merely commemorate a past president; they validate a historical truth: that the foundations of the United Nations were laid not just in Washington, D.C., but in the polders of Tholen and the spirit of the Dutch Republic. The "Four Freedoms" are, in the truest sense, a joint heritage—a testament to the enduring power of the Dutch roots that helped nourish the tree of global liberty.
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