Preoccupation with Freedom

"I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one." Frederick Douglass
Although Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldow Emerson, and Walt Whitman described Freedom in different ways, and through different experiences; they all share one common idea. The ultimate freedom is the freedom of the mind. This kind of freedom opens doors to every other kind of freedom that is available to mankind.
If you put the three authors texts in chronological order it sets up the perfect timeline of freedom through the eyes of some of our most valued American authors. In "The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave", Frederick Douglas defines freedom as something that can only be attained by being physically as well as mentally independent. The "thing" standing in his path to freedom is slavery itself.
The path that Emerson paves for his audience is directly built upon this idea of intellectual freedom. In "The American Scholar", Emmerson suggests that freedom is found through being an individual. Creation is the only way the "bookworm" becomes independent. Creating our own knowledge is just as important as acknowledging the value of the scholars and free-thinkers of previous generations(The American Scholar).
Whalt Whitman, seemingly unintentionally, yet poetically took this idea of freedom and found it in everything mundane and ordinary. From grass, to the commute Whitman found the beauty of freedom in everything and everyone. Taking the idea of freedom of the mind to the body, creating the concept of freedom through Unity. Whitman seems to suggest that we already have the knowledge, now we just need to work together to continue this pursuit.
Weather it be slavery, inactive minds, or "motion without movement" the main obstacle of freedom is humanity itself. Physical freedom can only be achieved through, mental freedom and only after we have achieved both of those will we achieve equal freedom.