Student Scholarship
Document Type
Research Paper
Abstract
This paper explores the complex and evolving definition of liberty within the American political framework, specifically examining how the concept has shifted from a theoretical state of nature to a structured legal reality. The author posits that while the world lacks a singular, static definition of liberty, its fixed fundamentals in the United States are rooted in the rights that citizens reserve for themselves from their government. Historically, this began with the transition from primitive, absolute freedom to group living, where individuals sacrificed certain actions in exchange for the security and conveniences provided by a collective social order.
A significant portion of the analysis centers on the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights as instruments designed to explicitly limit governmental power. The author argues that a constitution is not merely a document to be worshipped but a functional tool of government that relies entirely on the will of the people to uphold it. This point is illustrated by comparing the longevity of American democracy with the collapse of the German Weimar Republic, suggesting that the character of the citizenry is as vital as the written law.
The study further details the pivotal role of the Supreme Court in defining the boundaries of liberty through case law. By examining the Fourteenth Amendment, the author explains how the Court has used the due process clause to determine which federal protections apply to state actions. The Court distinguishes between fundamental rights essential to ordered liberty, such as freedom of speech and the press, and procedural rights that states may occasionally modify in the interest of justice. Ultimately, the paper concludes that American liberty is a successful compromise between the desire for individual freedom and the necessity of governmental security.
Research Highlights
The Problem: The author addresses the historical and political difficulty of establishing a universal definition of "liberty," specifically evaluating how the concept's fixed fundamentals adapt to changing social, political, and economic environments in the United States.
The Method: The study utilizes a legal and philosophical framework, analyzing the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment through the lens of foundational Supreme Court case law and comparative historical analysis of the English Magna Charta and the German Weimar Constitution.
Qualitative Finding: Liberty is defined as the group of rights an individual reserves to themselves from their government; its preservation depends on the will of the people to uphold the Constitution rather than the document itself; the Supreme Court serves as the ultimate interpreter of these rights, using the "due process" clause and "clear and present danger" doctrine to balance individual freedom with the security of group living.
Publication Date
5-1951
Recommended Citation
Underwood, Patricia, "A Study of Liberty" (1951). Student Scholarship. 151.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/student-research-papers/151
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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