History Essay: Evolution of Freedom Definition in American Society

This essay explores the evolving definition of freedom in the United States from the end of World War 2 to the present. It examines the multifaceted nature of freedom, highlighting the impact of the Freedom Train and other significant factors. The essay delves into key historical movements, policies, and schemes that shaped American society's understanding of freedom, including the civil rights movement, economic policies, and consumerism. It contrasts conservative and liberal perspectives on freedom, emphasizing the importance of individual liberties, economic security, and social justice. The analysis considers the evolution of freedom of speech and expression, the struggles of marginalized groups, and the influence of consumerism on contemporary American society, concluding that the concept of freedom continues to evolve with societal changes and preferences. The essay is based on primary sources and the student's interpretation, providing an in-depth analysis of the subject.

Running head: AMERICAN HISTORY
AMERICAN HISTORY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1AMERICAN HISTORY
Freedom, in the studies of political science, was considered freedom from oppression
and coercion, the absence of disabling conditions for an individual and the fulfilment of
enabling condition, or the absence of life conditions of compulsion in a society (Foner, 2008).
Freedom for the society and every individuals is necessary for the growth, development and
fulfilment of the needs and expectations of a society (Bhaskar, 2013). Freedom is the ultimate
concern and pursuit of human beings.The idea of freedom in American history changed after
the World War 2 and in the present times, freedom has multidimensional and multifaceted
meaning (Foner, 2016). The Freedom Train was one of the main characteristics that showed
how freedom developed and evolved in American society after the World War 2. Along with
Freedom Train, there are numerous other important factors that show how freedom has taken
shape after World War 2 till the present time. The respective paper is an essay that talks about
how the definition of freedom changed in America from the end of World War 2 till the
present time. The essay has gone through the important freedom movements, policies and
schemes taken by the American society from World War 2 till date.
Freedom Train was a seven car train that travelled across the United States from
September 1947 to January 1949. The idea of Freedom Train was to allow all Americans,
from all over the nation, opportunity to view the important documents and learn more about
the nation and history of the USA (Fears,2017). The Freedom Train is an example of the
changing faces of freedom that seeped into the United States. The United States has shown
“tangible evidence of American freedom” through Freedom train. The Freedom Train is
symbolic of precise and uncontroversial meaning of freedom. The history of the US has seen
a remarkable idea of freedom, which was “the freedom trains” since the revolutionary period
till the contemporary world. The definition of freedom has always been a debatable issue in
the milieu of the society of America. Three America oriented freedom issues (both political
and individual) are: the meaning or definition of freedom, social conditions that make

2AMERICAN HISTORY
freedom possible and existent in the nation, boundaries of freedom, and who is entitled to
enjoy it.
America and the Americans are fundamentally known for their freedom and
individuality. The literary, political and sociological terminology of freedom has been deeply
recorded in the documents of history and language of the lives and past of the Americans
(Packenham, 2015). Americans’ love for freedom is something which can be felt through the
representation of liberty poles, caps and statues. Beginning from running out of slavery to
demonstrating for the right to vote, men, women and other ethnic groups who have been
oppressed by the system had made every possible ways to fight for and advocate for freedom
(Cole, 2016). Americans are fond of freedom more than any other countries across the globe.
The nation of the United States seemed to be more prominent about the ideas of freedom in
public and private discourses. In the society of the US, ideals of independence are not only
compressed towards civil liberties but also individual liberties. The United States was the first
nation that provided women and slaves the right to vote. The American political, social and
cultural milieu have always been pro- liberty and it believes that every human beings are
entitled to a complete liberty. However, the gaps in Americanized form of liberty are that it
has unfortunately, denied the basic liberties to its “first people”, or the aboriginals of
America. Freedom in many cases was often limitations have been termed and confined. The
slaves looked after the master’s thinking about freedom and the women looked upon the
autonomy of the men folk to come out of their subordinate position. The want of freedom in
the nation of America has been through many battles, such as the efforts of racial minorities,
women, workers and other groups to secure freedom as they understood it. The meaning of
freedom in the standards of the USA has been deepened and transformed and the concept of
freedom have extended up to different realms. The American freedom is quintessentially
characterized by the inclusiveness and heterogeneity of the excluded groups.

3AMERICAN HISTORY
America and the Americans have become a torch bearer and a pathfinder of what is
known as “freedom” in the current century through their historical struggle. A new definition
of freedom in America which is also characterized by the free economic policies and free
market has been the target of all the new- age American politicians after the World Wars and
Civil Rights movements (Wilson, 2015). According to the historical investigations, freedom
has always been a contested concept in the United States and in different areas, the concept of
freedom is different. For the founders of the American domain, freedom meant a complete
freedom from political autocracy, from the royalist aristocracies and special privileges that
were given only to the Crown. Freedom in political domain of America was highly socialist
with leaders like Abraham Lincoln who fought relentlessly to curb the growing power of
capitalists by abolishing the slavery system and emancipating slaves and marginalized sectors
of the American society. The starting and ending of World War 2 made America aware of the
noble reasons for freedom that roughly was freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom
of want and freedom from fear. According to Roosevelt’s Economic Bills and Rights that
states “true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence”.
Therefore, the new shape of freedom of America is highly influenced by economic and
financial independence. However, for the conservatives of the American government and
parliament, freedom is centred in markets which would be free from governmental
interference. For the conservatives, the entrepreneurs, and not the citizens, is the central
factor in their political domain. For the conservatives, the government is a threat and they
make every possibilities to avoid any kind of governmental interventions in their way of
politics, business and economic activities. Conservatives have always argued about freedom
that entails privatization, deregulation, limiting the reach and capacity of the government.
However, for the democrats, the concept of freedom is completely liberal and highly
influenced by the welfare state concept, where every person, no matter what his/ her socio-

4AMERICAN HISTORY
economic conditions might be is eligible to freely cultivate all such activities that the
privileged ones usually do. The social- democrats have talked about the basic rights, freedom
and independence of common masses and a world that would be free from all kinds of
oppression or coercion.
In today’s epoch, when an American is asked about defining their rights as citizens,
he/ she always speaks up about the privileges and rights that are formulated by and in the Bill
of Rights instinctively, which are freedom of speech, press, religion and expression.
However, for many decades, America did not see what “freedom of speech and expression”
actually is. In America, the freedom of speech was contradictory where, at one point of time,
it was considered to be ideal and on the other hand, a stark restriction of speech was assumed
to have been taken shape based on certain puritan and prudent values. The anti- establishment
and dissent voices of America have faced innumerable difficulties in their paths (Stone &
Bollinger, 2018). They have faced legal and statutory oppression, that included the women’s
suffrage movement activists, birth control and birth right activists, labour activists, and the
post-World War 2 socialists (Wilder, 2015). Black human rights activists have also faced
huge statutory, political and economic repressions that led to a condition of lack of freedom
in the United States (Lawson, 2014). If the civil rights movement is taken into consideration,
many ethnic minority rights activists have faced plethora of issues related to freedom of
speech, expression and opinions. However, certain economists have viewed “consumerism”
as a characteristics of post- modern freedom and independence in the contemporary history of
America. With consumerism at its peak, America experienced fierce social liberties for both
men and women. Sometimes, even the traditional jobs of women in the society, such as
household and domestic works were carried out by the robots and appliances, which meant
that women were emancipated from their traditional shackles of patriarchy and labour to a
certain extent. With automation and excellence in science and technology, men and women

5AMERICAN HISTORY
have been completely emancipated from their traditional gendered roles and the world has
provided them a broadened arena to do something better than what is expected from them.
Nevertheless, to conclude, it has to be remembered that as the world is progressing,
the concept of freedom and independence is also getting updated. America is needed to
update herself according to the preferences of the evolving culture and society. The
respective paper concludes to be an essay that talks about how the definition of freedom
changed in America from the end of World War 2 till the present time. The essay has gone
through the important freedom movements, policies and schemes taken by the American
society from World War 2 till date.

6AMERICAN HISTORY
References:
Bhaskar, R. (2013). Philosophy and the Idea of Freedom. Routledge.
Cole, W. (2016). America first-The battle against intervention 1940-1941. Read Books Ltd.
Fears, B. A. (2017). Freedom train: The underground railroad as a model of christian
education, antiracism, and human rights advocacy. Religious Education, 112(1), 19-
32.
Foner, E. (2008). Voices of Freedom. WW Norton.
Foner, E. (2016). Give Me Liberty! An American History: One Volume. WW Norton &
Company.
Lawson, S. F. (2014). Running for freedom: Civil rights and black politics in America since
1941. John Wiley & Sons.
Packenham, R. A. (2015). Liberal America and the third world: Political development ideas
in foreign aid and social science. Princeton University Press.
Stone, G. R., & Bollinger, L. C. (Eds.). (2018). The Free Speech Century. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Wilder, G. (2015). Freedom time: Negritude, decolonization, and the future of the world.
Duke University Press.
Wilson, C. (2015). Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780-1865.
University Press of Kentucky.