What is Freedom?
The American tradition of ordered liberty and the case for renewal
In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that all men were “created equal and independent.”[1] It is difficult to understate the significance of “independent” being removed from the final text – a text centered on independence. The reasoning behind this often-forgotten deletion is significant because it illustrates how the American Founders understood freedom – or what they typically referred to as “liberty.” It also illustrates how the true meaning behind their principles has drifted in the minds of many modern Americans.
From a practical standpoint none of the Founders would have been able to ignore that we are created in an entirely dependent state. Even then people had naval cavities in the lower mid-section of their torsos to remind them of this fact of humanity. While it is true the cord is cut, so to speak, we are always dependent on others in some shape or fashion. To argue otherwise would contend the ideal state of human nature to be some form of solitary confinement – which ironically is reserved as one of the harshest forms of punishment.
Beyond practicality, there is a deeper reasoning as to why the word “independent” needed to be removed. It is because this separation from Great Britain was justified through the lens of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature's God,” cited in the Declaration’s opening. The American Founders had a profound conviction in a natural order that exists outside of ourselves. They understood there to be a moral order which guides the soul and a civil order which guides government. Why Jefferson would have included the word “independent” in first place is likely linked to his own deistic beliefs. That being said, the fact remains this supposition was not in conformity with natural law and it was ultimately scrapped.
This worldview held by the American Founders was far from novel. When it came to the ordering of a soul the founders looked primarily toward Athens and Jerusalem. “Socrates and Plato affirmed that God was the measure of all things… Man must order his soul in conformity with divine laws Plato said; only thus can order in society be obtained.”[2] This viewpoint was in alignment with Jewish law that was given through Moses, and fulfilled in the teachings of Christ. This teaching was a “leap of being”[3] because, unlike other philosophies, it required submission of one’s will to a higher authority.
In establishing an order for civil government, the Founders looked chiefly to Rome and London. This influence can be seen in adoption of government features bearing similarities to the Roman Senate and the English Bill of Rights. While those influences are important, they are only a reflection of a broader understanding of human nature held by the American Founders. They recognized man’s fallen nature and this is the key to why they limited and divided the power of government. Great effort was given to restrain the propensity for power to corrupt government leaders. This restraint was the means to the Founders’ end of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
It is important to point out that by dividing the power of government the American Founders were consenting to a society built on tension. They recognized the reality of the human condition and accepted an ordered liberty. This meant one’s rights were relative to others and natural law confined one’s will to certain just actions. To put it another way, rights come with responsibilities. For many today this understanding of order and liberty has been replaced with a hedonistic type of freedom that professes one is only “free” when they indulge their appetites. There is no shortage of influences advancing this ideology both in politics and popular culture.
One can be quite confident that the American Founders did not ascribe to this unprincipled doctrine. This can be evidenced when comparing the cause for American Independence with the French Revolution. “What Whiggish America stood for was the long-established right of the colonies to govern themselves.”[4] Their effort was aimed at preserving a civil order from despotic injustices. On the contrary, French Jacobins saw the imperfections of their social order and chose to start anew. They opted to tear down their government, their institutions, and their entire social fabric. These two events could not have been more dissimilar.
French intellectuals, inspired chiefly by the Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, chartered a new course by adopting an idea of liberty which shed itself of any form of prescription or tradition. “Just as in the old theology everything hinged on man’s fall from God, so in Rousseau everything hinges on man’s fall from nature.”[5] Through the use of romantic language Rousseau argued, “the true state of nature is liberty, equality, and fraternal pity.”[6] This novel and self-centered religion was symbolically manifested in the Cult of Reason’s blasphemous display of the “goddess reason” upon an alter in the Notre Dame Cathedral. To say the least, this French conception of liberty, so prevalent in modern era, was antithetical to the American idea.
Edmund Burke, the British Parliamentarian often credited as the founder of Conservatism, famously threw cold water on the flame of this Enlightenment-based ideology from across the English Channel. “It is therefore of infinite importance that they should not be suffered to imagine their will, any more than that of kings, is the standard of right and wrong.”[7] Burke correctly points out that basing one’s actions on the will alone ignores the fallen nature of the human condition. Before long the Reign of Terror began in France and the errors of a false ideology were made plain for all to see. This disordered chaos enabled a megalomanic named Napoleon Bonaparte to seize power and restore order. This new order came at a great cost to the French people and Europe as a whole.
It is easy for one to look back at this history and these old ideas and be dismissive. One could say the American Founders’ vision of ordered liberty is beginning to blur for many and a reawakening is needed. This of course is easier said than done because the Founders’ vision sets limitations on what one can do – and this is admittedly less exciting than the alternative. On top of that, it is highly paradoxical. How can one have freedom when they are not free to do as they will? Well, one can only make noise until they learn the established rules to play music, and when this music is performed together in concert its beauty is magnified. These boundaries help keep one on the narrow path toward meaning and peace.
This paradox of liberty rooted in order and wrought with tension was embraced by the American Founders. Admittedly, we have not always lived up to this ideal, but we have shown incredible resilience and growth through much adversity. It is a cause worthy of renewal and as an inheritance to posterity.
The American tradition of liberty is not rooted in the ideology of acting on unrestrained impulse. Rather, the American tradition of liberty is found when one has the humility to submit to virtues found in first principles. We each have a choice, and our choices will determine if this republic conceived in liberty can so long endure.
[1] Kirk, Russell. The Roots of American Order. Pepperdine University Press, 1974. p.408
[2] Ibid., 80-81
[3] Ibid., 81
[4] Ibid., 395
[5] Babbit, Irving. Democracy and Leadership. Liberty Classics, 197. p. 99
[6] Ibid. 98
[7] Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on Revolution in France." Edmund Burke and the Perrenial Battle 1789-1797, edited by Daniel Kline and Dominic Pino, CL Press, 2022, p. 47