The history of the United States and the concept of freedom

Andy L.

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The history of the United States and the concept of freedom

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Abstract

The history of the United States and the concept of freedom are intricately intertwined. Nowadays, the United States is almost synonymous with the word freedom. The idea of being "free" has evolved over the years. It is hard to imagine what being free for an early colonist or an antebellum slave owner meant if a person uses the present day context of freedom. The meaning of freedom has followed an almost pendulum-like pattern; the attitudes of the people have swung from fairly conservative to more radical and back again for a long time. A glance of the history of America from its infancy to the present will show any reader numerous examples of the culture of freedom shifting from one definition to another. This view has not always meant total freedom. I

Introduction
Revolutionary America's definition of freedom
The search for the measure of freedom
The views of the Puritan north
Foundation of the American dream
The idea of freedom
The notion of freedom
The underlying reason for slavery
Differences between the abolitionists and the slave owners
Conclusion

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[...] It will be right to make great allowances for the difference (RTAP 148) The underlying reason for slavery was money and a feeling of power. Slaves were a source of free labor for the huge plantations of the south, and free labor meant more profit. Without the labor of slaves, the very rich landowners of the South would not have created the wealth they obtained. The viewpoint of slave owners was heavily influenced by the consequences that the freedom of slaves would have on their livelihood. [...]

[...] which his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man.” (Document 4.1 Lincoln's reply to Douglas) These irreconcilable differences between the abolitionists and the slave owners led to the secession of the southern states from the Union and the civil war. After the conflict was resolved, the definition of equality was revised once more to include the enslaved African people and our present definition is only slightly changed. [...]

[...] The notion of freedom that followed the American Revolution became less radical and more narrowly focused. People began to equate freedom with certain physiognomic traits. Whiteness, and especially male whiteness meant freedom and blackness became the definition of slave. The people of the antebellum period in America slowly proliferated this idea until it became ingrained in the culture of the United States especially in the southern states. Scientific reasons were given as to how the white race was superior and how the enslavement of blacks actually benefitted them, reasons written by even Thomas Jefferson But never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the plain of level narration It appears to me in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, as I think one could scarcely by found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous. [...]

[...] The idea of freedom blossomed as the colonies grew and came to be redefined as freedom from a faraway, oppressive government. The idea grew from the colonists' resentment at the unfair taxation they received from the British government and from the fury they whipped up following incidents like the Boston massacre. The ideas of the enlightenment pervaded the attitudes and writings of the great Revolutionary thinkers. A great deal of the literature about freedom and liberty and the role of government were based on the writings of John Locke and his idea of the “social contract” that people made with their government. [...]

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