Essay On American Freedom

Words: 871
Pages: 4

American Freedom has been a dream for people all over the world and has become a large part of being an American. It's what drives people to the United States in hopes of finding that freedom. But what is freedom exactly? Do we all have in? Can it truly be obtained for all? Those questions have been asked for many generation, by many races and by all genders. Throughout the history of America it is easy to see just how captivating this “freedom” is. Whether it was in “Letters from Columbus” when Bartolome told us about the awful treatment of the Natives, or in John Proctor's wrongful incrimination in the Crucible, it is clear to see that the American freedom we all know might not be so free for others.
In the Las Casas Letters, Bartolome talks
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This being said in the story of a slave boy brought to America, Equiano was considered an American and his right to freedom was still tarnished. Equiano was an African boy living in Africa when he was taken from his home and put on a ship. After many stops and being sold to many different people Equiano was brought to America. This story talks about one of the biggest movements in American history, slavery. Slaves just like Equiano were brought to America and bought and sold like animals. What part of the American dream is that? We consider being an American a wonderful thing but in all reality the lives that we squandered to achieve this dream have helped to label the term being an American as something else. In Equiano's Story he talks about his journey to America and the time he spent here, he said “I even wished for my former slavery (in another country) in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo.” Is that what it means to be an American, others must be horrifyingly mistreated and abused to achieve personal gain? It is again clear to see that the American freedom is not really free for all, but merely for those who are of power or