FFQF: Samuel Adams (and Dan Webster) on Liberty
Since today’s post is the last submission on the theme of LIBERTY (at least for this month), I would like to present some of the best, with a very brief challenge. (Please wish me well as I attempt to make this brief but satisfactory!)
Today we will hear from Samuel Adams, the “father of the American Revolution.” Of all the people whom we could choose from to speak on liberty, he is a very appropriate person. In language reminiscent of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, he writes:
Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can. The Rights of the Colonists (1772)
Please notice, that the phrases “free health care,” “free education,” “free retirement,” and not even “security” are there. The rights to life, liberty, and property are the most fundamental rights, and the “rights” to even security are to be forfeited when those three are seriously endangered. Now of course, there is a time and place for security. To some degree, the right to life, and the right to “security in one’s own person” are inseparable. However, the right to life, liberty, and property, should never be forfeited for the feeling of security.
However, let us understand that these are rights belonging only to people who do not forfeit these same rights of others. For instance, someone who deliberately encroaches on another’s right to life, forfeits his own right to life. Hence, capital punishment for crimes such as first-degree murder are just. It is not the job of the government to protect the freedom of all individuals, but rather to protect justice. If justice is forfeited for freedom, than the government has become criminal.
Another thing we must understand about liberty, is that it is a rare prize. Even the most unlearned glance at human history and governments and kingdoms shows us that it is not in man’s nature to be free. All men desire liberty, but few, it seems, are willing to pay the price to earn it and preserve it. Liberty has no inherent vivacity. Liberty cannot survive of itself on its own. It must be continually guarded and maintained. Daniel Webster made the following observation, about those who are worthy of liberty.
God grants liberty only to those who love it, and who are always ready to guard and defend it. Speech before Pennsylvania Senate, May 27th, 1834
Liberty is only for those who will keep it. Liberty is not lost through the oppressive actions of government, but rather through the consent of the governed. If we want liberty, we must be willing to do what it takes to keep it, and we must exert and encourage the virtue to preserve it.
4 Responses to “FFQF: Samuel Adams (and Dan Webster) on Liberty”
September 26th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Some people think that liberty means the freedom to do whatever they want until they get into trouble, and then ask someone else to save them from the consequences. However, I would say that liberty requires personal responsibility. That is part of its “price.”
September 26th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Amen to that, Dave! It’s my point here precisely. Liberty cannot last without responsibility. Freedom does not work because it allows people to do whatever they want, but it works on the condition that people exercise virtue (which includes the responsibility of an individual for his own actions) and self-restraint. All societies and bodies of men need the same amount of governing. However, the difference between an autocracy and a free government is the factor of WHO does the governing!
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! Happy FFQF!
September 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am
“Please notice, that the phrases “free health care,” “free education,” “free retirement,” and not even “security” are there.”
You forgot “free lunch.”
Do you think that the coming days will help people realize that the government is not their daddy, waiting to solve all their problems? I’m afraid that when they do, when they realize no one else is going to step in to save them and they alone are responsible for themselves, we will see looting and rampaging, as people decide to “take” what they need. Scary proposition.
“Liberty is not lost through the oppressive actions of government, but rather through the consent of the governed.”
Wow, that’s quotable itself, Herky! And it reminds me (again) of that little book “The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude” by Etienne de la Boetie, intro by Murray Rothbard. It examines the nature of people to voluntarily submit to tyrants.
Perhaps this happens because God created us to be sheep to the Great Shepherd, and when we reject the Great Shepherd, our nature demands we follow something around the field? That’s my latest hypothesis, anyhow, but I haven’t had time yet to test it out.
Great thought-provoking post, Herky. Thanks.
September 27th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Great post.
It is human nature for man to desire relief from responsibility and accountability. This is why Washingtom said that religion and lorality would be the republic’s greatest support; religion and morality confirm that man IS responsibly and must be accountable, for he will one day give account. This reverence toward God is the foundation of a life lived in virtue and it’s outgrowth, liberty.
How terribly far we are from this noble precept.
Keep saying so, Mulligan. Adams also said that what’s needed to spur change is a tireless, irate minority.
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