Many people in this country have the concept that the words “liberty” and “freedom” have the same definition. Of course, in a sense, their definition share the common meaning, “to be free”. There has been disputes because those two words have a plethora amount of interpretations between people, politics and the government itself. However, modern literary critics and founding father, Thomas Jefferson, have distinguished and defined the definition of liberty and freedom and have elaborated where those two words actually stand in today’s country.
Jed Waverly, who wrote the article, Liberty or Freedom? The difference is amazing”, mentioned and gave enthralling insight as to what exactly is the difference between the two words. He wrote that …show more content…
According to the article, The Jeffersonian Perspective, Jefferson, whenever he spoke about freedom, he never mentioned it as a right. Rather he referred it as the “state that is free from despotic oppression”. Another fact was that whenever Jefferson would talk openly about religion, press or petition or any of those matters, he referred to them as the “release of the despotic restraints”(Eyler, 1996) .Release of despotic restraints simply means not having external power dominating all the people trying to hinder them from practicing them. According to the commentary of Thomas Jefferson, it states that never in Jefferson writings, did he use liberty and freedom in a way that give out that there are no rules, restrictions and limitations between them. “He believed that all our action in the exercise of our freedoms are subjet to certain limitations and restrains” (Eyler, 1996). The Declaration of Independence is definitely a great example on how it uses liberty and freedom. A real world example is owning an armed weapon. We have the freedom to defend ourselves and a liberty granted to us right to bear arms written in the Second Amendment. However, we cannot in that liberty, have the freedom to murder someone just because. That does not make it right, therefore this example gives an …show more content…
He defined the right of nature as “the liberty each man has to use his own power as he will himself for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life ...”(Hobbes, 1651). According to Hobbes, he seems to be saying that the right of nature is basically liberty that man can act upon in order to protect himself and his own. His concept of state of nature was that any higher power or laws can cease them from surviving. Of course, this is not a definition that people use nowadays to describe liberty, but it an example on how he interpreted and viewed liberty. He described liberty as “the absence of external obstacles” which he later adds that those obstacles can limit some power that man holds to do what he desires to do (Hobbes,
Jed Waverly, who wrote the article, Liberty or Freedom? The difference is amazing”, mentioned and gave enthralling insight as to what exactly is the difference between the two words. He wrote that …show more content…
According to the article, The Jeffersonian Perspective, Jefferson, whenever he spoke about freedom, he never mentioned it as a right. Rather he referred it as the “state that is free from despotic oppression”. Another fact was that whenever Jefferson would talk openly about religion, press or petition or any of those matters, he referred to them as the “release of the despotic restraints”(Eyler, 1996) .Release of despotic restraints simply means not having external power dominating all the people trying to hinder them from practicing them. According to the commentary of Thomas Jefferson, it states that never in Jefferson writings, did he use liberty and freedom in a way that give out that there are no rules, restrictions and limitations between them. “He believed that all our action in the exercise of our freedoms are subjet to certain limitations and restrains” (Eyler, 1996). The Declaration of Independence is definitely a great example on how it uses liberty and freedom. A real world example is owning an armed weapon. We have the freedom to defend ourselves and a liberty granted to us right to bear arms written in the Second Amendment. However, we cannot in that liberty, have the freedom to murder someone just because. That does not make it right, therefore this example gives an …show more content…
He defined the right of nature as “the liberty each man has to use his own power as he will himself for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life ...”(Hobbes, 1651). According to Hobbes, he seems to be saying that the right of nature is basically liberty that man can act upon in order to protect himself and his own. His concept of state of nature was that any higher power or laws can cease them from surviving. Of course, this is not a definition that people use nowadays to describe liberty, but it an example on how he interpreted and viewed liberty. He described liberty as “the absence of external obstacles” which he later adds that those obstacles can limit some power that man holds to do what he desires to do (Hobbes,