which obliges every one: and reason, which is that
law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that
being all equal and independent... there cannot be
supposed any such subordination among us, that
may authorize us to destroy one another” (4). Lib-
erty, then, may be defined as actions that conform
to reason, whereas license allows for acts of passion,
which may subordinate or harm others or the self.
The assumptions Locke makes concerning why
humans should conform to reason adhere to the
medieval notion of the universe—namely, that it has
a Creator who endowed humans with reason. Locke
writes that all humans are “the workmanship of one
omnipotent and infinitely wise maker.” (4) Cre-
ated by an omniscient, omnipotent being, humans
struggle to understand how they also may maintain
freedom. The tension between free will and predes-
tination dominates the concerns of medieval writers
from Saint Augustine to John Milton.
In the middle of Dante Alighieri’s The divine
coMedy, Dante the Pilgrim discusses the relation-
ship between the freedom of human beings and
the plans of the omnipotent creator. His dialoguing
partner, Marco the Lombard, says that while “the
heavens set your appetites in motion... , on greater
power and a better nature you, who are free, depend;
that Force engenders the mind in you, outside the
heaven’s sway” (2.16.73, 79–81). In other words,
God creates humans and provides them with reason,
but he does not control them. As the “joyful Maker,”
God gives the human soul motion, so “it turns will-
ingly to things that bring delight” (2.16.89, 90). The
will turns naturally to good objects. While the will
should know the good objects by reason, the human
souls, catering to their physical over their spiritual
nature, often falter and choose earthly over heavenly
goods. Thus, Dante the Pilgrim, representing “every-
man,” has used his freedom for earthly delights and
must learn instead to align his will with God’s.
Describing the beginning of humanity’s fall from
God’s will, John Milton writes about the first human
beings in paradise Lost. Adam and Eve, whom
God labels as “sufficient to have stood, though free
to fall” (3.99), succumb to Satan’s temptation to
eat of the tree of knowledge. Before Eve commits
the sin, Adam reminds her that “God left free the
will, for what obeys Reason is free, and reason he
made right” (9.350–351), echoing Milton’s notion
that freedom depends on reason. Despite Adam’s
warning, Eve subordinates her reason to her desire;
Adam then follows. In this act, they both lose their
freedom.
In his essay “Freedom and Necessity in Paradise
Lost,” J. B. Savage writes that Adam “by becoming
absorbed in the things of the world, he becomes
governed and determined by them... ; by neglect-
ing the motive of moral obligation, by which alone
he is free, he must unavoidably surrender his free-
dom” (305). The example of Adam can be illustrated
in an analogy: If a man freely walks off a cliff, he
gives up his freedom and surrenders to the law
of gravity. In the same way that physical actions
must comply with the scientific laws of reality, so
must moral actions observe the laws of reason.
This definition of freedom reiterates the Lockean
idea of liberty, while the actions of Satan and the
first human beings illustrate license. Though Satan
argues that it is “better to reign in hell than serve in
heaven” (1.263), he does not realize that since God’s
will dictates the laws of the universe, only slavery
and determinism are possible when acting against
God’s will.
Locke refers to these laws as natural laws
engrained in every human person, laws that respond
to reason and protect the equal and independent
nature of human beings. His Second Treatise is
written to the government, so his main objec-
tive is to convince civil authorities of these innate
human freedoms. While this definition of freedom
is invoked in the American Declaration of Indepen-
dence and the Constitution, it took almost two cen-
turies to be properly enacted for all races, classes, and
genders. African-American and feminist literature
responds to this earlier oppression of the liberties
of human beings, recognizing the need for what the
20th-century philosopher Isaiah Berlin categorizes
as the two types of freedom—negative and positive
freedom. While negative freedom is a freedom from
oppression, coercion, or tyranny, positive freedom is
a freedom for opportunity, ability, or privilege.
In the narrative^ oF^ the LiFe^ oF Frederick^
douGLass, the author tells his own story of his
search for freedom from slavery and for educa-
tion. Slavery is, first, an impingement on Freder-36 freedom