Jake Buckley

 An overall definition of liberty is the freedom of

people in a certain place which means no
restrictions on ones way of life.
 This is important to remember in the American
revolution as many people flocked to the New
World in search of this new idea.
 Free Will is the ability for a person to be able to
make decisions and actions by themselves
without restraints from other factors. Basically,
people are allowed to have the freedom to do
what they want without being persecuted or
stopped all together. However, this idea only
works if the majority of people in a community
have the same power, not just a select few.
 The concept of free will is related to liberty due
to the equality in society and that everybody is
entitled to their own opinions and freedom of
speech. Liberty is based on the foundation that
everybody is equal and free will is a way of
expressing liberty.
 Free will is often contrasted to determinism.
Determinism is the belief that all events are pre-
determined by other factors beyond our control.
 So in essence, free will is caused by us making
our own decisions where as determinism is
caused by things we are unable to control.
“Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are
dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free
will”
-Jawaharal Nehru
 Free will in modern society is all around us. Every single
choice that we make is an example of free will.
 For example, every single one of us made the free
decision of walking through the school gates this
morning, attending this class and deciding where to sit.
Free will is all about choices. We all could have so easily
decided not to walk through the school gates and to have
the day off.
 We all decided last year that we wanted to study
History revolutions. That was our choice.
However, what we have to learn about is dictated
to us by another body, which we have no say or
authority over.
 Think about everything in our lives that we don’t
have control over. How free are we?
 The idea of liberty and free will played an important role
in the unrest of colonists pre-revolution. The colonies
had prospered and colonist were much more wealthy
than the British. This was good for the empire however
the British needed a way of making money from the
colonies. This was mostly done through taxes which
created outrage in the colonies. The colonists moved to
America with ideas of liberty, however this was being
tested. The colonists wanted to have freedom from the
British and to be able to self govern themselves.
 This included the right to be able to have the freedom to
make their own decisions. They also wanted to freedom
of speech without being accused of treason. They wanted
equality in their community.
 Was liberty just a utopian idea? Even after the Americans
secured their ‘liberty’, many did not see the changes they
thought they would. The poor were still poor and
uneducated. The slaves were still slaves. What is the
point of having free will if they were unable to use it?