Patrick Sykes-Craig Essay #1

American Economic History II Prof. Connolly

The Declaration of Independence, Lincoln & Freedom

The notion of freedom, and what it means is a founding principal of American culture. Its stature in our society has as much meaning as the founding fathers, apple pie, and Thanksgiving. But what freedom is and means, is constantly up for debate in this great nation of ours. Though people may banter over whether it was the paradigms of Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin that obligatorily moved this country forward. Or even greater debates to what the best apple recipe actually is. This autonomy of choice, and openness of debate is American, it is what America is. It is in part what defines us as a nation, yet what freedom is remains a burning question. Does freedom for some, intrinsically mean freedom for all? Then how do we determine who is free and who is not? And does then freedom denote equality? Does that then mean all those who are free are inherently equal? These questions seared in the minds of many at various points in the infancy of our nations history. The searing turned into a spark, the spark to an ember, the ember to a flame. A flame that almost burned our nation in half in the mid 1800s. Because of a paramount line in the dissertation of this countrys freedom, We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Jefferson, 1776). If then all men are equal and all men are in this nation are free. This countrys assertion of freedom was based on a lie. That lie was the institution of slavery. Slavery was the pinnacle of Americans then blustering agricultural economy. Yet a literal and figurative a black mark on the integrity of American society. It was a problem to some, a way of life for many, but something that would not go away quickly for anybody. The issue put itself under scrutiny as soon as the founding fathers (Jefferson) penned the declaration to the British. And it came to a head in Lincolns time. In between the over two hundred forty-five years that the first captured Africans were brought to new world shores thousands of miles from their native land. Until the first breaths of the 13th amendment were spoken. Was American living the lie of freedom? According the Declaration of Independence, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. This is what the American people essentially did in 1865 when slavery was abolish. Freedom is boundless, the emergent America could no longer dwell in the parameters of British rule. Jefferson describes the need for freedom as tantamount to humanity, a man bound by oppression of any sort is stripped of his humanity. In this parallel of political tyranny from forces abroad, did Jefferson forget or yet ignore the tyranny of organized enslavement in his own backyard? Did the forefathers not see the destructive ends in the very institution? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the rights of every man prescribed by

God. Government is created to protect these, when government takes part in withholding or denying these rights it therein becomes destructive. But the United States would continue to withhold these rights from enslaved black Americans for more than one hundred years after these words were written. Was the freedom described in the declaration of independence just a fleeting notion for slaves? Then again is freedom to own slaves a part liberty in and of itself? And can government impose upon any liberty of its governed (so called or otherwise) without being destructive, once more picking the sword of tyranny. Lincoln saw this, he felt the injustice of this. It could be heard clearly when he said, Now congress declares this ought never to have been; and the like of it, must never be again. The sacred right of self government is grossly violated by it!... That perfect liberty they sigh for--the liberty of making slaves of other people---Jefferson never thought of; their own father never thought of; they never thought of themselves, a year ago