What is Liberty?

On July 4, 1796, America's founding fathers adopted the Declaration of Independence. These white men envisioned a society in which "all men are created equal." After this document was released many different conflicts arose between men, women, and African Americans about whether or not they had actually gained full rights and liberty. Liberty is defined as "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views," (OxfordDictionaries). It took decades for minority groups and women to get the freedom the Declaration of Independence promised them. Numerous individuals believed that women and blacks should have been granted those rights as soon as the Declaration was written, but what countless people fail to realize is that liberty is not determined by the government, but by society itself. Liberty is something that one person can grant another. If a law is passed saying that African Americans are free, how can this law be expected to be enforced when whites still are not accepting blacks into their society? Liberty it a personal matter for everyone. Everyone deserves the right to be free, but freedom is something that individuals in society give to one another. I know not everyone will agree with this, but when you think about it, it's true. For example, during the post Civil War era, the Northern American states accepted blacks as apart of their society and granted them most of the same rights and freedom as whites. On the other hand, the Southern American states still did not accept blacks as apart of the society and viewed them as property and not as human beings. I'm happy that women and African Americans eventually got the rights and liberites they deserve. Even though it took a long time to occur, I believe it needed to happen slowly in order for everyone to accept it. As stated before, Liberty is personal matter; only another person can give someone liberty.