Eric Foner writes that "Americans often 'forget' that our history is not a...progress toward greater and greater freedom and equality but a far more complex story in which gains are made and lost, rights are expanded and sometimes revoked...." In this essay, I want you to reflect on this quote and grapple with the paradox of American freedom. Often in the history of the United States, freedom for some, has been at the cost of freedom for others.  Select three examples of this paradox from material that we have studied this semester. You must have at least one example from before the Civil War (1865) and one example from after the Civil War.  For each of these example, you should explain how your example specifically demonstrates the complexity of American freedom and the nation's history.