Today in
class we were looking at a poem by Robert Hayden called "Fredrick
Douglass". The first line of this poem is:
"When it is finally ours, this freedom, this
liberty, this beautiful "
After reading this
line our class got into a discussion about the difference between freedom and
liberty. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines freedom and liberty as
"the quality or state of being free". However in class I realized
that even though they are synonyms they are really different. In my
opinion it is very similar to the "big 'T' Truth" and "little
't' truth" that we often talk about in American Studies. We defined Truth
as the objective, verifiable, scientific truth and truth as the emotional, or
spiritual truth.
To me freedom is
the objective, verifiable, and scientific aspect of being free. For example to
be physically released from jail is freedom, or a piece of
legislation that frees enslaved people is freedom not liberty.
Freedom comes from the word free and the suffix -dom, free meaning what it does
and "-dom" meaning "state or
fact of being", means that freedom is being free in a physical way or being
free by a fact.
On the other hand,
liberty is the freedom of mind and being able to feel, think, and speak freely. It is not the ability to do so granted by legislation or a superior power. It is the
ability to feel, think, and speak freely, because your mind or spirit is free. Liberty is to be mentally free and
to be able to control yourself and whatever you do. Liberty comes from the Latin
word "libertatem" meaning "condition
of a freeman". Liberty is being free spiritually because a freeman is factually freed already (freedom) and once that freeman can emotionally feel free then he is liberated. Also I believe liberty is being spiritually free because the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the spiritual freedom that America offers for immigrants from all over the world. Most of these immigrants were factually free and not enslaved by any sort of legislation in their homelands. However they came to America to experience liberty, the ability to be spiritually free. They wanted to feel free, not just to be factually free.
Which of these is more important to you?
Freedom or Liberty
Freedom or Liberty
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