John Winthrop's Definition Of Freedom

The American idea of freedom or liberty originates from the Puritan belief of true Christianity which embodied the spiritual definition of America's freedom. John Winthrop, the Puritan colonial governor of Massachusetts, drew the line between natural and moral liberty. However, both liberties boiled down to their compatibility with restraints on ones freedom of speech, religion, movement and personal behavior. By the 1750's Christian cosmology of liberty was understood which then gave birth to the religious revival (Great Awakening). For example, “a liberty to do everything that is right and being restrained from doing anything that is wrong” was what ministers such as Jonathan Boucher insisted on. Thus, the understanding of freedom was reinforced.

Freedom and property both ensure the right to privacy, specifically the right to privately own property. During the revolution, many leaders were keen that two political ideologies (republican and liberal) could initiate a commitment to a constitutional government, freedom of speech and religion as well as the restrain of the arbitrary power. Both ideologies emphasized “the security of property as a foundation of freedom”. Many publishers argued that the ownership of private property was a necessary foundation of liberty. Dependency was inevitable if one did not have private ownership; “men without property would inevitably fall under the immediate domination of others” Those who were dependent would ultimately lack will which “threaten the general liberty”. However, in the eighteenth century, almost everyone – in terms of economic independence – was not categorized as free because of lower ranks. This in turn implied that private property ensured independency which lead to personal freedom. If one was dependent their freedom would be limited due to lack of independency unless private ownership was

During the Revolution, slavery existed as a part of one’s+ daily life in every state. Slaves formed not only as a part of the economic ladder but as the social structure as well. For White Americans, slaves were an essential to their understanding of freedom. Slavery allowed the abolition of the poor that were dependent on the political nation. If slavery was to be abolished it would be challenging since, “the persons who [made] all the laws in that country are persons who have slaves themselves” as told by Adam Smith when addressing slavery from the republican view. However, Foner proved his point of the contradictory coexistence of freedom vs. slavery when proving that, “the liberal definition of freedom as... of the political community as a group of individuals seeking protection from their natural rights”. Self-government and the protection of privacy from the state were essentials to liberal freedom. If the state were to abolish slavery then they were ultimately abolishing the White Americans' freedom and infringing their liberty. Hence, “to deprive the people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their liberty” as clearly explained by Arthur Lee. Ordering Americans to relinquish their “rights” of their slave property would be to go against political freedom and eventually reducing the owners to slavery