What is freedom to a nation, but freedom to the individuals in it?
 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). copy citation

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Author Harriet Beecher Stowe
Source Uncle Tom's Cabin
Topic freedom nation
Date 1852
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/203/203-h/203-h.htm

Context

“Why, men and women of America, does your heart's blood thrill at that word, for which your fathers bled, and your braver mothers were willing that their noblest and best should die? Is there anything in it glorious and dear for a nation, that is not also glorious and dear for a man? What is freedom to a nation, but freedom to the individuals in it? What is freedom to that young man, who sits there, with his arms folded over his broad chest, the tint of African blood in his cheek, its dark fires in his eyes,—what is freedom to George Harris? To your fathers, freedom was the right of a nation to be a nation.” source