Joan Hutchinson, age 14, of Glendale, Ariz., for her question:
CAN YOU EXPLAIN LIBERTY?
Liberty is the right of individuals to act as they choose. In this sense, it is frequently called individual liberty. The term is also used in connection with the achievement of sovereignty of a people. When so used, it is called national liberty.
Although in these traditional senses liberty may be specifically political or civil, the modern concept further connotes a generalized body of rights, such as the right to economic opportunity and education.
Because complete unrestricted freedom of action would make peaceful human existence impossible, some restraints on freedom of action are necessary and inevitable. Almost all codes of action point out that basic limitation. Liberty is defined in such codes as the right of individuals to act without restraint as long as their actions do not interfere with the equivalent rights of others. Acts that do violate the rights of others are rejected as license.
The nature and extent of the restraints to be imposed and the selection of the means of enforcing them have been important problems for people throughout history. Almost all solutions finally arrived at having recognized the fundamental need for a government, meaning an individual or group of individuals empowered to impose and enforce whatever restraints are deemed necessary.
A perfect balance between the right of an individual to act without undue interference and the need of the community to restrain freedom of action has often been projected in theory but has never been achieved. And restraints imposed throughout most of history have been oppressive.
History has been described by some historians as society's progress from a state of anarchy, where there was no government or law, through periods of despotism during which liberty was nonexistent or restricted to one privileged group, to a state of liberty for every person under democratic governments. There seems to be a natural desire of all people to be free.
In antiquity, liberty meant national freedom and slavery was considered a necessary institution of society. Liberty in medieval times related primarily to social groups seeking to wrest certain privileges from the sovereigns against whom they contended for power.
As the Middle Ages came to an end, the Renaissance raiser problems of intellectual freedom, challenging the established dogma of the Catholic church. Later still the Reformation further promoted ideas of religious freedom and freedom of conscience.
Three great revolutions helped to define individual liberty and ensure its preservation. In 17th century England, the Glorious Revolution established representative government in England.
The American Revolution of 1776 brought the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution with its Bill of Rights that established guarantees of civil rights.
The French Revolution of 1789 destroyed the feudal system.