History of Freedom

Lecture Notes

We discussed the fact that our idea of freedom and government evolves from ideas taken from Greece, Rome, the signing of the Magna Carta in England, and the Enlightenment.

Greece: representative government--republic
Rome: rights for citizens, right to trial by jury, senate
Magna Carta: limited the power of the monarch and created Parlaiment in England.
The Enlightenment: developed the ideas of liberty, equality, and brotherhood.

Even so, the Founding Fathers' definition of freedom was not as "free" as what we expect today. We will analyze this concept by studying our national documents.

We began by discussing the Declaration of Independence, which was, in effect, a giant laundry-list of complaints sent to the King in England. Imagine, the King has just paid for the protection of the colonists during the French and Indian War. He feels entirely justified in taxing the colonists to pay back the war debt. We are examining the writing of the Declaration from the point of view of the colonists and the king.

Homework: Analyze the complaints listed in the Declaration. Explain several (I have given you a specific number in class) in your notebook providing an "English to English" translation.