I ran into a claim some years back that the original republican notion of freedom that the US system was based on was "freedom from coercion". With coercion def

I ran into a claim some years back that the original republican notion of freedom that the US system was based on was "freedom from coercion". With coercion defined as the threat of physical, economic, or other harm. Thus the point of the government was to protect the citizens from coercion by being an entity that could step in on the side of the lesser party.