Who wrote the line about liberty and self-liberation?

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The line in question comes from a poet who wrote during America’s Civil War era and focused on liberty as something people must actively pursue and achieve. James Russell Lowell is the one whose verse explicitly ties freedom to courageous action and moral awakening, often urging both individuals and the nation to confront oppression and work toward true emancipation. His poetry from that period, including pieces that speak to crisis, liberty, and national renewal, reflects this call to self-liberation and collective responsibility.

This fits Lowell’s broader voice as a politically engaged writer who joined the abolitionist cause and used his poetry to advocate for freedom as something earned through steadfast principle and action. The other writers listed are associated with different centuries or themes—Puritan devotional poetry, complex moral inquiries in fiction, or didactic patriotism—without the same distinctive emphasis on liberty tied to self-liberation in the same historical context.