The United States stands for freedom in the world. Yet many Americans seem to have widely varying views of what is meant. This page attempts to assist this discussion by offering defintions of some of the words commonly used by those who enter into it.

The most general concepts in this area are expressed by the words freedom, independence, and liberty. In the modern or at least American ideology these are said to be ensured by democracy), which spells out a variety of guaranteed rights. Alongside rights, a successful democracy must also impose duties on its citizens. Special terms used to define rights under democracy are political rights, political liberties, civil rights), and civil liberties.