Freedom in United States Political Culture

The language of liberty shaped resistance to British rule and the founding of the United States, yet the coexistence of republican claims with slavery and unequal citizenship exposed fundamental contradictions. Different communities used the same vocabulary to demand incompatible forms of power and protection.

Emancipation, industrial conflict, women’s rights, immigration, the world wars and the civil-rights movement expanded and altered public meanings of freedom. Political leaders and social movements attached the ideal to voting, labour, private property, national security and personal autonomy.

Liberty and Freedom traces these changes through popular images, monuments, flags, paintings, advertisements and political symbols, while Fairness and Freedom compares the American tradition with New Zealand’s stronger language of fairness.