Patriots Pen Essay: Does It Really Mean To Be Free

Is freedom really what we think it is? Has our perception of freedom changed over time? A simple definition of freedom is “the quality or state of being free.” (Webster’s Dictionary). Has this simple definition been twisted to match our own personal ideas and wants? Words like “liberty” and “independence” can also be associated with freedom, but do these words mean something different to different people? Although Webster’s defines freedom as the state of being free, that definition can become controversial depending on people’s views and understand of their freedoms as seen in the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, and the freedom to experience life and liberty.

As the United States matured, it noticed the growing problems and loopholes of this freedom as its citizens took too much advantage it. The solution? Limit their rights and freedoms. So now our rights are still available to an extent, and our freedoms fenced in to a degree which it is still bearable. But is it still free? Kind of, but not quite. America has manipulated and shaved off parts of our freedom and rights.

When you ask people what freedom is they may respond that freedom is when you can do whatever you want to do at whatever time. Mostly this will be the response of kids and young adults. But this definition of freedom is incorrect. Freedom is when we are allowed to have power of right to act without violating other people's freedoms or rights. The most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom are strong government and constitution. A quote that can help out the claim comes from the Declaration of independence “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

True freedom is not something that can be given. It is something that every single person must discover for themselves. If a person were set free, though still thought of themselves as a slave, they are a slave. America is a country that thrives on freedom. Though numerous people throughout the United States take this privilege for granted.

The American Civil War claimed the lives of over 700,000 people. The war was fought from 1861-1865. The results of the war were described as; a union victory, abolishment of slavery, territorial integrity preserved and the destruction and dissolution of the Confederate States. The twelve years that followed were called the Reconstruction Era, 1865-1877. The purpose of the Reconstruction Era was to restore National Unity, strengthen the government, and guarantee rights to freed slaves. The reality of reconstruction though was; violence (260,000 dead), newly freed slaves suffered the most, and Lincoln's hopes of trust and rededication to peace were lost when he was assassinated on April 15th, 1865. It is these realities of the Reconstruction Era and beyond that this paper will address and how those realities affected the newly freed slaves. Life in post-bellum America for African - Americans was violent and filled with fear because of white supremacy, lynching, and the brutal mutilations of blacks.

Freedom is defined as the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement. It is the power to determine action without restraint and the exemption from external control, interference, and regulation. Americans, these days, commonly regard their society as the freest and the best in the world. Their understanding of freedom has been shaped and based upon the founding fathers’ belief that all people are equal and that the role of the government is to protect each person’s basic “inalienable” rights. The United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights assures individual rights including freedom of speech, press, and religion. America has changed dramatically from the country our founding fathers discovered. Some could even argue that

There are many ways to describe what freedom is; in fact Webster’s dictionary offers nine different explanations of what the word means. “A right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference,” is one of the most ubiquitous definitions. There are many ways to describe freedom and American history has portrayed it in very contradictory manners. In the late 1700’s, it was very obvious that America’s forefathers sought freedom as they based their revolution on the principal of emancipation but it was only a short while later that the freedoms of others within the country were being inhibited by slavery. Slavery inhibits civil liberties and in a land of equal

All around the world people talk about freedom; America has more freedom than Russia, twenty-one years old as more freedom than a fifteen year old. What does “freedom” mean? Many have different definitions of “freedom”. For some it could be the freedom to speak and act as you want and others it could be to go where ever you want.

This is supposed to be America, the home of the brave and the land of the free but what does it actually mean to be free. To me, being free is the freedom to make my own decisions. I decide what I want to believe in. I decide if I want to risk my life by not wearing a seatbelt. I decide if I want to ruin my health by smoking cigarettes. I decide who I want to have sex with and how I will pay for it. I decide if I want my kids to sit in the front seat of my car or in the back end of my pickup truck. and I decide if I want to get drunk or stoned.

The power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. A word created by man to escape the bonds of tyranny to express the idea of what it means to persist one's own ambitions. Freedom. Freedom is not the absence of confinement but the will to achieve freedom when imprisoned. After carefully concluding the reading done over this semester one is able to clearly understand the confinement these early Americans felt and their decision to achieve a form of freedom. Freedom has always existed but it is the history of this nation that will define what actions freedom takes.

The American Ideological Consensus is that “…the American people have shared much of the same ideals, the same basic principles, and the same patterns of belief” (McClenaghan 104). When America filled itself with ideologically homogenous people, their beliefs started to define our nation and became American identities. If asked what they think of America, peoples of other nations would say that the roads are made of glass, opportunity is in the air, and civil rights are plentiful. These accounts maybe accentuated; however, the underlying message is that the American people have more freedoms then the peoples of other nations do. The most widely known American identity is freedom, and even though that American identity has been tried and

     I think that there is no good definition for the word freedom for the simple fact nobody’s free

Today we accept that freedom is a basic right human right but what exactly is freedom. 1On one hand, there is physical freedom. People who are not imprisoned or enslaved are free. On the other hand, there is freedom as a the right to act, speak or think what you want. People cannot reach their full potential if they are not free in both senses of the word.

Freedom has a large range of meaning. The encyclopedia Britannica defines freedom as “the quality or state of being free, and the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action” (Britannica). In the American society there is a lot of emphasis on freedom, and the right to be free, but one must question to what extent we are truly “free”.

of us fail to cherish and value our granted freedom. Many of us do not