Liberty
"Privileged Persecution" Liberty, the freedom from dependence and obligation, was a privilege granted only to those who by birth status were deemed to be better than others. This inequality and persecution of the "unprivileged" was an accepted way of life in colonial American society by virtually all classes of people. However, what is different about American colonial society than European society, is that for the first time those "gentlemen" who were on top of the hierarchal order found themselves being persecuted by the British as if they were bastard children and in all respects inferior. Now, everyone in colonial America had the common experience of feeling oppressed in one form or another. Therefore, I believe it was "persecution" that ultimately united colonial America, thereby establishing an American identity leading to an eventual revolution. European and colonial American societies were committed to a system of hierarchy. People were born into networks of human beings and self worth was assigned based on the relationships they had with others. In this ideology, people that had a higher status in society were those that were the least dependent on others.