Figure 1.--One of the jewels of the American republic was its public education system, helping to spread opportunity and the pursuit of hapiness as offered in the Declaration of Indepencdeence to the general population. Not everyone could take full advantage of the opprtunity offered like these boys at the Hickok Lumber Co. in Burlington, Vermont about 1910 who have to work. This is why the Left argues that without peoperty that individuals do notreally have freedom. It is also why child labor and compulsory school attendance were high priorities for the Progressive Movement. The issue, however, is complicated. Amercan workers includng these boys at the time commanded the highest wages in the world and the world's highest living standards. And one has to wonder why today the American Left and Ciil Rights Movement gives so little attention to the poor quality education that inner-city children receive. Photographer: Lewis Hine.

Any assessment of the saga of freedom requires at the onset an attempt to define fredom. This is more difficult than it may seem. During the culture wars of the 1960s both the right and the left organized their messages around this concept, freedom. Of course, their ideas were quite at variance with each other. The dictionary definition is fairly straigh forward. It is the ability and right of the individul to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint or the fear of communal, religiousor desptic goveormental reprisal. A second definition is more of a communal concet, the absence of subjection to foreign domination. The idea of freedom became a matter of considerable discussion during the Enlightenment as concept of natural rights became widely ccoted. Natural rights were often defined as life and liberty--liberty meaning essentially freedom. But here the issue becomesmore complicated. Important Enlightenment thinkers, most notably John Locke added 'estate' meaning property--'life, liberty, and estate'. The thought being that life and liberty were imposible to enjoy without the right to acquire and enjoy property. Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Indepedence, a document in the spirit of the Enligtenment, phrased it somewhat differenly--'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'. Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers were familiar with Locke. Why he chose 'the pursuit of hapiness' and what he meant by it is not known with any surity. It is commonly thought that Jefferson was just plagerizing Locke and reprashing his concept. This may be case, but Jefferson was also an Epicurian and he may have meant more than just property, but considering Jefferson's life style and his dependence on slaves to support it, property must have been part of what he meant by the 'pusuit of happiness'. The complication comes in our modern dicussions in that the right insits on the Lockian addition of property or the variously phrased Jeffrsonian version. The left reflecting Marrxist thought, however, insists that only the propertied class has real freedom. And those without property have no real freedom. It is important to note, however, that jefferson did not say hapiness, but the 'pursuit' of happiness. Thus it is not acquired property that was an impottant, but a society in which individuals were free pursue property.

Any assessment of the saga of freedom requires at the onset an attempt to define precisely what freedom is. This is more difficult than it may seem. Freedom is a a sttongly value laded tradition with a long historical tradition. And it is aconcep that has had a emense impact on human history. Not only do words have histtotical meanings, but ideology creates a lens through which terms are viewed and can affect how terms are viewed.

Dictionary

The dictionary definition is fairly straigh forward. It is the ability and right of the individul to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint or the fear of communal, religious or desptic goveormental reprisal. A second definition is more of a communal concet, the absence of subjection to foreign domination. This is, however, just a beginning. Lord Acton was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer who often commented issues like freedom and overnment. He perhaps put it best when he pointed our that there are more dfinitions for fredom tn Arabic has words for cammel.

World Origins: Liberty and Freedom

The English language is composit or hybred language composed primarily of two parts--the most recent additions to the English ethnic map--German and French with is Latin base. As with many other English words, as a result there are two words with essentially the same meaning. Freedom is the English version of the German word 'Freiheit'. Liberty is English version of the Latin word 'libertas'. All the Romance languages has very simitary deritives such as liberté in French and libertad in Spanish. While english has two words, the terms are essentially interchangable. There are slight difference in usage. Liberty is used more in dicussions of political liberty while freedom has a connotation of indididual freedom, Thus common useage in America is to use liberty in connection with gaining independemce from Britain and freedom in conection with freeing the slaves during the Civil War. That said, the great bulk of the popuation in Britain, America, and other English speaking countries use the two terms interchangeably. Romance languages do not have these destinctions.

History

The idea of freedom became a matter of considerable discussion during the Enlightenment as concept of natural rights became widely ccoted. Natural rights were often defined as life and liberty--liberty meaning essentially freedom. But here the issue becomes more complicated. Important Enlightenment thinkers, most notably John Locke added 'estate' meaning property--'life, liberty, and estate'. The thought being that life and liberty were imposible to enjoy without the right to acquire and enjoy property. Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Indepedence, a document in the spirit of the Enligtenment, phrased it somewhat differenly--'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'. Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers were familiar with Locke. Why he chose 'the pursuit of hapiness' and what he meant by it is not known with any surity. It is commonly thought that Jefferson was just plagerizing Locke and reprashing his concept. This may be case, but Jefferson was also an Epicurian and he may have meant more than just property, but considering Jefferson's life style and his dependence on slaves to support it, property must have been part of what he meant by the 'pusuit of happiness'.

Types of Freedom

Ideology

During the culture wars of the 1960s both the right and the left organized their messages around this concept, freedom. Of course, their ideas were quite at variance with each other. The historical complications comes to our modern dicussions in that the right insits on the Lockian addition of property or the variously phrased Jeffrsonian version. The left reflecting Marrxist thought, however, insists that only the propertied class has real freedom. And those without property have no real freedom. It is important to note, however, that jefferson did not say hapiness, but the 'pursuit' of happiness. Thus it is not acquired property that was an important to Jefferson and other Enligtenment figures, but a society in which individuals were free pursue property.

Reader Comments

As with other topics, we welcome reder comments. And on the topic of freedom it is especially welcome. Freedom is a term that is almost universally vaued, but or differenbt reasons. For the Greeks who virtually invnted freedom. part of freedom was the right to own sllves. Thus over time, th concept of freedom and definitions have changed. And thanks to the internet we have the opportunity to obtain input from many different voices. One CIH reader has provided a thought provoking essa exploring the concept of freedom--Defining Freedom.

Created: 9:39 AM 5/25/2015
Last updated: 9:39 AM 5/25/2015