Definition Of Liberty And The Historical Background Of The Struggle For It
I hope that we now all understand that the purpose of government is to maintain the liberty of the people. I wish that every child would learn from the Declaration of Independence the following:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”[12]
This expresses the whole purpose of government—to secure the right to life, to liberty, and to happiness.
I suppose every child here would like to be rich some day. A great many people feel that riches bring happiness. The experience of men, however, is that riches more often bring disappointments, burdens, and grief.
What is the most valuable thing in the world? It is not money, lands, nor jewels. The most valuable thing in the world is human liberty. I do not believe that we, born here in America, realize the value of human liberty. It comes to us as a heritage. We accept it as we accept the sunlight, the springtime, the harvest. I am afraid that we seldom stop to recall the fact that the great blessing of human liberty, as we have it here in America, did not exist before our Nation was born. Always remember that there were thousands of years before our country came into being, when the people, men, women, and children living in many countries of the [pg 028] world and under many forms of government dreamed, hoped, and prayed for freedom. But it never came to them. They lived, labored, and died under kings and emperors, or other rulers, never having any power, or at most very limited power, in making the laws under which they were compelled to live.[13]
To a considerable extent the history of the world is a sorrowful story of men who fought and died in struggles for liberty, the same liberty which we in this country enjoy. We must not forget that freedom in this Nation was obtained only through war, bloodshed, and sacrifice.
Now what is this liberty for which men have fought and died? It is liberty of thought, liberty of speech, liberty of conscience, liberty of action, liberty, as the Supreme Court of the United States says, “of all the faculties”. Men wanted the right to form their own opinions and to express them in speech or in writing. They wished to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and not as directed by the ruler of the government. They wanted to work in employments of their own choice, to have their own earnings for themselves and their families, instead of having it taken as tithes or taxes to buy purple robes for some monarch upon a throne. They wanted the right to own property, to own a home; and they hoped and prayed for the day when their children might have a chance to advance in life according to their merits. They hoped some day to have the door of opportunity open to the son of the poor man as well as the rich. They hoped to see class and privilege wiped away.[14]
These were the things that men and women throughout the centuries struggled for, but which were never attained in the whole history of the world, by any race or by any nation, until America opened its doors to all the peoples of the earth, guaranteeing to them all the blessings which had been so long denied to the human race.
You will understand better the functions of government with relation to human liberty if you will realize that human liberty is a natural right. It comes from no man and no government. It is “God given”. Men are born free. The love of freedom is in every human heart. Again recall the words of the Declaration of Independence—“all men are created equal ... they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”, among which is liberty.