Thoreau: "America is said to be the arena on which the battle of freedom is to be fought; but surely it cannot be freedom in a merely political sense that is meant. Even if we grant that the American has freed himself from a political tyrant, he is still the slave of an economical and moral tyrant.... Do we call this the land of the free? What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice?...What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom?...Is it a freedom to be slaves...?

Thoreau: "America is said to be the arena on which the battle of freedom is to be fought; but surely it cannot be freedom in a merely political sense that is meant. Even if we grant that the American has freed himself from a political tyrant, he is still the slave of an economical and moral tyrant.... Do we call this the land of the free? What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice?...What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom?...Is it a freedom to be slaves...?"

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/WALDEN/Essays/life.html