One of the chief functions of a constitution is to protect the liberty of the people who live under it. But not all peoples, or individuals, understand liberty in the same way. Detail the understanding of liberty generally accepted by one of the four English subcultures which David Hackett Fischer identified as having shaped early American culture. What is revealed by his treatments of these cultures about the way liberty and community, or liberty and authority, have been related in the American experience? In what ways are these earlier understandings of liberty similar to or different from liberty as Americans understand it today? In what ways do these earlier understandings of the relationship between liberty and community/authority raise questions regarding the way we understand this relationship today?