Free Men and Slaves

We live in a Constitutional Republic, in which written laws guarantee us the right to bear arms for protection and the prevention of tyranny. Throughout history, people that are considered to be free have owned weapons and slaves alike. The concept of freedom implies that a person has the will to do as one pleases within confines of written laws. Slavery is just the opposite; a person does not possess free will and is completely subservient to a master or a higher authority. Many different empires throughout antiquity have had slaves and free men like, in close quarters of one another. What is the difference between a slave and a free person? For most, the answer is obvious; the defining difference is that free men can own weapons and slaves cannot. From Greek society, to Aztec society, and to American society the reasons for having and using slaves may differ, but they all have one major similarity, slaves were not allowed to own weapons, and free men are permitted to. However, in the United States, there are certain cases that have shown that slave have possessed weapons illegally, but did not revolt or gain freedom because of fear and other reasons. Many prominent people in government and academia have voiced the importance of an armed free society. On the reverse side, some officials in governments have outlawed the possession of weapons and society has suffered adverse effect to tyranny and amnesty.
Spartan Greek Slaves
Western civilization regards Greece as the beginnings of democracy. Within the lectures of Dr. Price, we studied two main Greek powers, the Athens and Sparta. We have knowledge that the Spartans had slaves called Helots, who were native to the area, were captured in battle and forced to be slaves. We understand that the Spartan society was very slave intensive and that every Spartan citizen had up to eight slaves, this means that there was much more slaves than Spartan citizens. The underlying reason that the Spartans were able to control the