[Griff]

No. That is a very personal thing. What you are calling freedom I'd call security and it comes at the cost of others' freedom. I would say that the first generation of Americans were more free than we are now but by the "freedom from" definition they were less free. People chose the frontier because they were free to risk ashedding the limitations of their society. This is why the federal system had so much potential before it was essentially destroyed, folks could choose the level of risk they were willing to take by living in a place that matched their personal definition. I understand that we live in a mass society now and the frontier is closed but people are the constant.