Atlantic Charter, 1941

   As U.S. assistance to Great Britain increased following the Lend-Lease Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill met in Argentia Bay off Newfoundland in August 1941 to agree on common principles. On 14 August, they issued a joint declaration known as the Atlantic Charter listing eight principles that they hoped to see applied to better the future of the postwar world. These principles were 1) a declaration that signatories intended to make no territorial gains from the present conflict; 2) that any territorial changes should only be made in line with the wishes of the peoples concerned; 3) that the principle of self-determination should be applied; 4) that trade barriers should be lowered; 5) that global economic cooperation should be applied; 6) that there should be freedom from want and fear; 7) that there should be freedom of the seas; and 8) that there should be the disarmament of aggressor nations. In September 1941, representatives of the governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and the Free French signed the statement. The Atlantic Charter paved the way for the United Nations Charter.