FREEDOM

4 Pages 984 Words

freedom! In today’s society freedom is something that supposedly exists, but does it really exist. In recent years it seems like freedom is being limited more and more by the government of the United States. Although we have more freedom than most countries, we are still not totally free like we think. Freedom is something that was won a long time ago, but today it is slowly being taken away. Freedom is a word that is thrown around lightly, and many people have forgotten what it really is. Freedom is the quality of not being coerced or constrained by fate, necessity, or circumstances in ones choices or actions. This means that under no circumstances can someone tell you that you have to do something or that you can not buy something or that you can not watch your favorite TV show. Since the beginning of our country’s independence people have been fighting to be what we call free. Probably none has been a bigger fight the African Americans struggle to be free of slavery. The fight of the slaves to be free was a long battle. It was thought that the slaves were inferior to Whites in intelligence. The funny part about it is that the colonial America wrote the “Declaration of Independence” to declare its freedom. In this historic document written by Thomas Jefferson and others, they stated that all men are created equal. This is very peculiar, because they did not believe that all men were created equal or they would not have had slaves. Some free Black men at the time wrote about Thomas Jefferson, and one actually took the time to write to him. Benjamin Banneker, a freeborn Black man was very well educated and wrote to Thomas Jefferson. He questioned Jefferson saying, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongst these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”(Benjamin Banneker, letter to Thomas Jefferson ...