|
|
|
|
Dictionary definition |
|
The condition of being free of restraints |
|
Liberty of the person from slavery, oppression
or incarceration |
|
Political independence; possession of civil
rights |
|
Exemption from unpleasant or onerous conditions |
|
The capacity to exercise choice; free will |
|
Frankness; boldness… |
|
But, what explains the special radiance and
value attached by American culture to the idea of freedom? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Free Trade and British Power: Spectator 69 |
|
Right to Rebel to Protect one’s freedom: John
Locke on Revolution |
|
Media Freedom and Spiritual Identity : John
Milton’s Areopagitica |
|
Freedom of Speech: Trenchard and Gordon |
|
An Empire of Liberty: Thomson’s “Rule
Britannia!” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commerce stitches all of mankind into peaceful
communication [while politics brings war] |
|
Thriving private fortunes bring public benefits |
|
Nature’s design: to scatter diverse blessings so
as to promote “intercourse and traffic” |
|
By itself England is a barren, but free trade
makes all the riches of the world “ours” |
|
“Trade, without enlarging the British
territories, has given us a kind of additional empire” |
|
|
|
|
|
State of Nature |
|
A condition of liberty and license |
|
There is no magistrate to judge between men as
to the right |
|
A state of insecurity and war, where “might
makes right” |
|
The original Contract of the People to form a
Civil Society |
|
For the “mutual preservation of their lives,
liberties, and estates,” man joins in civil society |
|
Exchange absolute freedom for security and
rights under the law |
|
The legislature, represents the people, frames
laws for the public good of society; the magistrate and the judges fairly
administer the laws |
|
|
|
|
Invading the “property” of the people. Reader
18-19 (221) |
|
Arbitrary power overrides law, subverting
government, and justifying revolution Reader, 19 (222) |
|
Not the people, but the rulers, have
precipitated a state of war, brought on rebellion. Reader, 20 (226) |
|
How can you fairly refuse the people’s right to
defend themselves? Sheep and wolves. Reader 21-22 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
What exception is there to the right of freedom
of speech? Reader, 23 |
|
If “a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can
scarce all any thing else his own”; Why? |
|
Why is the doing of “public mischief” and not
hearing of it “only the prerogative and felicity of tyranny” |
|
Why will honest magistrates want “their deeds
openly examined and publicly scanned” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
When Britain first, at Heaven's command,
2 Arose from out the azure main;
3 This was the charter of the land,
4 And guardian angels sung this strain:
5 "Rule, Britannia, rule the
waves;
6 Britons never will be slaves." |
|
7 The nations, not so blest
as thee,
8 Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall:
9 While thou shalt flourish great and free,
10 The dread and envy
of them all. …Reader, 15 |
|
|
|
|
How does this anthem, written by James Thomson
in 1740, make articulations between “Britannia” and commerce and the ocean
and freedom? |
|
What role does the use of force (for example in
the development of a strong navy) play in this articulation? |
|
Notes
