Essays On Liberty

Positive Liberty in Mill's On Liberty

On his well–known work, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill starts by clarifying that the subject of his essay is Civil or Social liberty: "the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual," (Mill, 5). Though some would see this as evidence for Mill's grasp of liberty as something that is primarily concerned by the absence of constraints, that is negative liberty, Mill also engages in arguments and discussions that point towards an opposing view of liberty. Mill's political theory as found in his work On Liberty marks the transition from a classical take of liberty as a negative concept to a modern liberalism understanding of liberty as a concept requiring underlying preconditions of empowerment for its full and complete actualization. This essay will demonstrate how Mill's discussion of utility, social tyranny, and customs point to the distinctiveness of his work as a marker of a transition towards a modern liberalism understanding of liberty; these discussions delineate the required underlying preconditions of empowerment that will lead an individual to self–actualize and possess true liberty. It is important to note that Mill's work marks a transition and not a complete shift from classical liberalism to modern liberalism. The shortcomings of his argument will be addressed. It is important to first clarify and expand on what is meant by negative liberty as understood by classical Get

As people head down to all the shops in New York, an Italian family gazes upon the statue of liberty. The children hold their mother's hand, and the father kneels on one knee holding his hat in one hand saying, "Thank you." Another man stands in the middle of the road, dressed as Lady Liberty working for pocket change. One can tell that he does not know the definition of liberty, but liberty belongs to the people. Liberty is the one word that changes millions of lives. Liberty is the word for freedom. Liberty has a purpose, and that purpose is to let anybody to live their own lives. Thomas Jefferson has the saying, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This quote gives a provided example of how liberty is one of the key meanings in...show more content...

In the 1800s, women were not aloud to vote. The women did not have liberty. The women are not in control of whatgender they turn out to be. This event also follows the category of race. Race is just a word in some people's perspective. In the 1700s, black people would not get to live a life. They could not control how they were born, and they had to work as a slave throughout their whole life. Most of the slaves had the job to a garden gnome. They were kept as property, and this event took away the liberty of black people. In World War II, there was a man by the name Adolf Hitler who killed every Jewish person in sight. This time period took away the liberty of a certain religion. Liberty should not be taken away on people's external appearance. Liberty should be for everyone. If liberty was taken away from the people, probably only being able to step in one spot. In the introduction, an explanation used was about "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If people did not have liberty, than Thomas Jefferson's quote would have no meaning to people. In some other countries, people do not have liberty. This is taken away for many countries. This example could provide communism. Communism is the act of all people living the same lives. This takes away liberty of all people living out their own lives. Liberty should be free to

Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American bell of great historic significance. The Liberty Bell is perhaps one of the most prominent symbols associated with the American Revolution and the American Revolutionary War. It is one of the most familiar symbols of independence, abolition of slavery, nationhood and freedom within the United States, and has been used as an international icon of liberty. [1]

Its most famous ringing, on July 8, 1776, summoned citizens of Philadelphia for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Previously, it had been rung to announce the opening of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and after the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775.

The Liberty Bell was known as the...show more content...

Inscribed are the names of John Pass and John Stow, together with city and date, along the inscription "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereofВ Lev. XXV, v. x. By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pensylvania for the State House in Philad." (The spelling "Pensylvania" was an accepted variant at the time.)

[edit] 19th–century history, repair and crack

During the 19th century, thebell tolled at the death of Alexander Hamilton (1804), Lafayette's return to Philadelphia (1824), the deaths of Adams and Jefferson (1826), Washington's 100th birthday celebration (1832) and the deaths of Lafayette (1834), John Marshall (1835) and William Henry Harrison (1841). [4]

In 1839, William Lloyd Garrison's anti–slavery publication The Liberator reprinted a Boston abolitionist pamphlet containing a poem about the Bell, entitled, "The Liberty Bell," which represents the first known usage (in print) of the name, "Liberty Bell." [4]

It is not certain when the second crack appeared (the first after the recastings), but the bell was repaired in February 1846. The method of repair, known as stop drilling, required drilling along the hairline crack so that the sides of the fracture would not reverberate.

On February 22, 1846, the bell was tolled for several hours in the tower of Independence Hall in honor of George Washington's birthday.[5] When the bell was rung,

Get more content

In Chapter 2 of "On Liberty", Mill begins by addressing the issue of whether or not people, either through governmental means or on their own ought to be allowed to limit or "coerce" the expression of another individual's opinion. Mill asserts that any such actions are illegitimate and in short wrong for two reasons: 1. Humans are infallible and 2. Humans are corrigible. Mill goes on further to state that "if all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." (2;1) In other words, even if just one person held a particular view or opinion mankind would not be justified in silencing him/her because, according to Mill these silenced opinions rob "the human race, posterity as well as the existing generation." (2;1) For example, if the said silenced opinion is true, then it robs from us the opportunity of exchanging the error for truth and likewise, if that said silenced opinion is false, then it robs from us the possibility to challenge our opinion, which ultimately can provide a clearer and more "livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." (2;1) In the next paragraph Mill begins by explaining why silencing opinions can be detrimental to humanity and highlights that we can never be sure that the opinion(s) that we are attempting to stifle are indeed false and that even if we Get more content

There are few objects that can be compared to the significance of the figure known as the Statue of Liberty. It is one of the greatest works of its time and still stands today as a meaningful entity of independence to the world. The statue is a great tribute to the concept of global freedom that had its roots in America. It was created to display the worldwide objective of peace and tranquility. The fact that another model of this icon stands today in a world capital shows the effect that this figure has inscribed upon the world. In addition, it represents the ideas that the United States was built upon and those that the people have lived by to this very day. Its most paramount features in its role through American history are its...show more content...

The statue would have died if not for the valiant efforts of Joseph Pulitzer, who through his magazine, the World, helped raise the much needed funds for the pedestal. Though the French had graciously granted us the statue free of charge, the Americans still had to pay for the pedestal upon which the statue was to rest. He stated that the statue was to be a symbol of unity, freedom, and the ideals that so many of them had fought for to acquire their very own independence. Pulitzer?s campaign of criticism was just what the statue needed. His actions helped to raise funds from the rich and the middle class. In a couple of years, the US had enough money to form the pedestal. Back in France, Bartholdi had problems of his own. The structure of the statue located in the interior was a very formidable task due to its intricate makeup. To circumvent this problem, a man named Alexandre Eiffel, well known due to his composition of the architecture for the Eiffel Tower in Paris, was hired as the structural engineer. He was able to make the skeletal framework and the iron pylons for the statue and construction continued. The statue was completed in 1884, surpassing the deadline by a reasonable number of years. The statue was dismantled and labeled to prevent confusion when it reached New York. It was separated into almost 300 pieces and put in over 200 crates. The French ship Isere

Get more content

The Statue of Liberty stands in the New York Harbor and has greeted many immigrants into Ellis Island. At the time, Lady Liberty was letting them know that their journey to find freedom, democracy, and a better way of life, was officially over. The Statue of Liberty is very important to many Americans because of what it represents. (Statue of Liberty National Monument)(Immigration) In 1865, Edvouvard de Laboulaye, of France, thought of the idea to build the Statue of Liberty while he was on a visit to New York. He commissioned Frederick–Auguste Bartholdi to design the statue. Barthholdi needed someone with experience with building the outer skeletons of statues, so he asked for the assistance of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. While designing...show more content...

(The Statue of Liberty) Before they could even start to build the statue, France and America had to make a compromise. France would build the statue and America would build the pedestal. In order to make this happen both countries had to do a lot of fundraising. France did various types of entertainment, public fees, and a lottery. America did theatrical events, art exhibits, and auctions. Even while doing all those fundraisers', neither country was making enough money. So Joseph Pulitzer took a stand. He used his very popular newspaper and critized the rich and middle class in an article. He blamed the middle class for depending on the rich, and the rich for not helping financially. His idea worked like a charm. Fundraisers' after that were going better than ever. Once both sides had reached the amount of money needed to build, they got started building right away!(Statue of Liberty History) When building Lady Liberty the sculptors were suppose to keep the year 1876 in mind to have it completed, but since funds were slow early out the Statue of Liberty was going to be a gift that was a decade late. It was completed in France July of 1884. In order to get the statue to America they had to disassemble it into 350 individual pieces and load those pieces on 214 crates. Unlike the statue the hand and torch were sent in one whole piece. The statue was

Get more content