Throughout the world, there are 123 democratic countries that represent over half of the world population. This number of democracies has slowly been growing, but democracy itself has only been revived as a relevant topic since the mid 1600’s, when it began to spread again. Democracy itself is a smaller part of a much larger concept, which is the word freedom. Freedom has been considered an essential part of humanity, and there has always been a great desire in every single person for it. However, even though it may be hard to decipher what freedom means, using different interpretations and the history of the word, I will attempt to make a more refined definition of it.

A good place to start when looking for the definition of Freedom is to think about the history of the concept. Early in human history, people didn’t have equal rights, instead giving them up for the promise of prosperity and a safe place to live under a monarchy. But, as time went on, people began to desire a higher quality of life and rights that would allow them to live a more satisfying life. In ancient Greece and Rome, an idea of freedom first began to prosper.  However, it was still limited and emphasized personal freedom above economic freedom. After the fall of these countries, the concept of freedom was slowly forgotten and diminished in its form for a while, but began to come back during The Protestant Reformation and The Enlightenment. Both of these challenged the system of monarchies and church ruling over the common people in Europe, encouraging people to think for themselves and interpret the world in their own way. After this, these ideas would spread to the New World and the British colonies, eventually leading to the formation of the United States and the spreading of the current idea of freedom throughout the world. 

In the U.S. today, the view of what freedom means has come a long way from its initial roots. From a modern day perspective, freedom implies a lot of different things, including the right to free speech and the option to believe in whatever religion that you want. Some people in other countries don’t have the ability to believe in and practice a different religion without fear of being persecuted, while in America this freedom is often taken for granted. However, it wasn’t always this way in the nation, and rights had to be fought for over many decades or even centuries. A good example of this would be Women’s Suffrage, which took almost 100 years of fighting just for women to be given equal rights to men and to be considered a citizen. Another unique part of the U.S. that not every country is guaranteed is the ability to vote in a free and fair election. This allows for the average citizen to express their concerns and vote for something to help improve theirs and others lives around them. There are still nations that do not have this, as is the case with some other massive countries like China, whose civilians do not have the chance to choose who they think should be in charge. 

It’s also critical to recognize that anarchy and freedom are two different concepts that must be differentiated when considering the definition of freedom. Anarchy is being able to do whatever you want with no consequences whatsoever. Freedom requires accountability. A very obvious example of this is that you can’t steal or assault people, as it hurts other people and creates a more dangerous environment for everyone. Anarchy, on the other hand, allows for this and states that no government should interfere with individuals decisions. The modern definition of freedom, however, makes it clear that a government and laws are needed for society to function at a basic level. This is why there is a government in every nation and never has there been a true anarchist country.

When thinking about freedom, it’s important to realize that other nations around the world do not enjoy the same rights and live very contrasting lives. The constitution guarantees certain rights to everyone living in the United States, while other nations' constitutions may have different freedoms.  An excellent example of this is with gun rights, where the majority of the world do not have access to them and rarely think about it. On the other hand, Americans consider it to be one of the fundamental rights that we have in our nation. It’s also critical to realize that in many other countries, they view themselves as having more rights and overall freedom. We do not have some of the same rights as other nations, such as free healthcare and education for all, and are in some cases arguably somewhat less free. This is useful, because it helps prove that freedom isn’t a simple fluid definition based on how many rights one country has against another. There are a lot of other factors to consider as well, like how happy the citizens are or how they decide to vote on certain subjects. Each free country has a different vision of what their freedoms should be, but they are all bound by the fact that people in each nation get to decide and be guaranteed to choose their own actions without the fear of being arrested or punished for them.

By using all of this information, one can determine that freedom has evolved over time and means a lot of different things to different people. Although it is difficult to make a perfect definition of the word freedom, after researching I feel that I can generally define the word as one's ability to interpret the world around them and express themselves in it based on the limits set by their own elected government. Although the definition is a much more cut down concept based on a very complicated subject, it is the closest that I could get to the purest definition of freedom without defiling or confusing its meaning. It has become more important than ever in today's world to recognize the true definition of a word, and use it properly. In all of our lifetimes, the concept of freedom will continue to be threatened, and it is our duty to protect it and fully understand what freedom actually means.